Note return to page 1 The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. Excellently expressing the beginning of their loues, with the conceited wooing of Pandarus Prince of Licia. Written by William Shakespeare. London Imprinted by G. Eld for R. Bonian and H. Walley, and are to be sold at the spred Eagle in Paules Church-yeard, ouer against the great North doore. 1609. 4to. 46 leaves. The Historie of Troylus and Cresseida. As it was acted by the Kings Maiesties seruants at the Globe. Written by William Shakespeare. London Imprinted by G. Eld for R. Bonian and H. Walley, and are to be sold at the spred Eagle in Paules Church-yeard, ouer against the great North doore. 1609. 4to. 45 leaves. In the folio of 1623, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida” occupies twenty-nine pages, the Prologue filling the first page and the last being left blank. It retains its place in the later folios; but in that of 1685 the Prologue is placed at the head of the page on which the play commences.

Note return to page 2 1We infer this from the terms of the entry in the Stationers' Registers, in which Sir George Buck, and his deputy, Segar, are mentioned. It is upon this evidence only that we know that Segar acted for the Master of the Revels. Sir George Buck was not formally appointed until 1610.

Note return to page 3 2A never Writer to an ever Reader. News.] This address, or epistle, is only found in such copies of “Troilus and Cressida” as do not state on the title-page that it “was acted by the King's Majesty's servants at the Globe.” See Introduction.

Note return to page 4 3&lblank; and set up a new English inquisition.] This prophecy has been well verified of late years, when (to say nothing of the prices of first editions of Shakespeare's undoubted works) 100l. have been given for a copy of the old “Taming of a Shrew,” 1594, and 130l. for “The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York,” 1595, merely because they were plays which Shakespeare made use of in his compositions.

Note return to page 5 4&lblank; rather than been prayed.] This passage refers, probably, to the unwillingness of the company to which Shakespeare belonged to allow any of their plays to be printed. Such seems to have been the case with all the associations of actors, and hence the imperfect manner in which most of the dramas of the time have come down to us, and the few that issued from the press, compared with the number that were written. The word “them,” in “prayed for them,” refers, as Mr. Barron Field suggests to me, not to the “grand possessors,” but to “his comedies,” mentioned above.

Note return to page 6 1First supplied by Rowe.

Note return to page 7 1The Prologue.] It was first inserted in the folio, 1623: no copy of the quarto contains it. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0821

Note return to page 8 2Sperr up the sons of Troy.] The four folios read, “Stir up the sons of Troy;” spelt stirre in the folio, 1623. Stirre was clearly a misprint for sperre, as Theobald pointed out; and many authorities may be quoted for the use of sperre in the sense of spar, or bar up. The most apposite of those is from Spenser's “Faiery Queene,” b. v. c. 10. “The other which was entred labour'd fast To sperre the gate.”

Note return to page 9 3A prologue arm'd,] It was usual for the prologue-speaker in our old theatres to be dressed in black. See Hist. Engl. Dram. Poetry and the Stage, vol. iii. p. 442. There were, however, many exceptions to this rule, and the instance before us is one of them.

Note return to page 10 4Leaps o'er the vaunt,] i. e. the commencement: from the Fr. avant. Such is Percy's explanation; but possibly “vaunt” may be taken in the sense of boast, at the outset of the siege.

Note return to page 11 1&lblank; my varlet;] This word (as Steevens remarks) anciently signified a servant or footman to a knight or warrior. So, Holinshed, speaking of the battle of Agincourt: “—diverse were releeved by their varlets, and conveied out of the field.”

Note return to page 12 2Will this gear ne'er be mended?] “Gear” is often used for matter or affair. See Vol. ii. p. 479, Vol. v. p. 154.

Note return to page 13 3&lblank; must tarry the grinding.] So the quartos; for, as they sometimes vary, we shall usually speak of them in the plural. The folio, 1623, inserts needs— “must needs tarry the grinding.” On the next page the folio reads “heating of the oven,” while the quarto omits the preposition.

Note return to page 14 4Doth lesser blench &lblank;] i. e. less start off or fly from. We have had the word already in the same sense in Vol. ii. p. 86, and Vol. iii. p. 446. It also occurs later in this play, and in “Hamlet,” A. ii. sc. 2.

Note return to page 15 5So, traitor!—when she comes!—When is she thence?] This is Rowe's amendment of the line: the old copies, quarto and folio, read, “So, traitor, then she comes, when she is thence.”

Note return to page 16 6&lblank; the sun doth light a storm,] Another judicious correction by Rowe, as the old copies all read scorn for “storm.”

Note return to page 17 7&lblank; praise her,] The folio has “praise it;” the quartos, “praise her.”

Note return to page 18 8&lblank; instead of oil and balm,] After this line, the Rev. Mr. Barry advises the insertion of a preceding line—“Pour'st in the open ulcer of my heart;” but we cannot be warranted in taking any such liberty with the text.

Note return to page 19 9&lblank; an she were not kin to me,] The quarto omits the negative. Two lines lower the quarto has “but what I?” for “but what care I?” of the folio.

Note return to page 20 1&lblank; this woman's answer sorts,] i. e. befits or agrees—one of the usual senses of the word in Shakespeare's time.

Note return to page 21 2&lblank; he was harness'd light,] Some corruption may be suspected here; for first the connection and meaning are not very intelligible, and next the word “light” in the folio and quartos is spelt lyte; an unusual orthography, “light” being then generally printed as at present. Lite or lyte formerly meant little, and it is so used by Chaucer and our elder poets. The common explanation of the passage has been, that Hector was lightly armed.

Note return to page 22 3&lblank; or purblind Argus,] The folio has “purblinded Argus.”

Note return to page 23 4&lblank; at Ilium?] Ilium, the citadel of Troy, was, according to Lydgate, the name of Priam's palace, which is said, by those who founded their histories upon Dares Phrygius, to have been built upon a high rock.

Note return to page 24 5&lblank; his wit &lblank;] The old copies, quarto and folio, have will for “wit.” Corrected by Rowe.

Note return to page 25 6Then she's a merry Greek, indeed.] The expression “merry Greek” is very common in old writers. One of the characters in the oldest comedy, properly so called, in our language, “Ralph Roister Doister,” is called Mathew Merrygreek. He is the Jester of the play.

Note return to page 26 7&lblank; into the compassed window,] i. e. a bay or bow-window.

Note return to page 27 8&lblank; and so old a lifter?] i. e. so old a thief: the word is frequently met with in this sense.

Note return to page 28 9&lblank; and all the rest are his sons.] Priam having fifty sons, the one white hair for Troilus' father would make fifty-one, and not “two and fifty,” as it stands in the old copies, quarto and folio. Theobald altered it to fifty-one, but with this note, pointing out the discrepancy, we leave the text as it stands twice repeated in the ancient authorities.

Note return to page 29 1So let it now, for it has been a great while going by.] When Pandarus said “that it passed,” he meant, in the phraseology of the time, that it surpassed; but Cressida takes the word “passed” in its ordinary sense.

Note return to page 30 2I can tell you:] The folio, 1623, omits “tell.” In a subsequent speech of Pandarus on the next page the folio omits “there's” before “laying on;” and reads “who ill” for “who will.”

Note return to page 31 3&lblank; would give an eye to boot.] The folio reads poorly “would give money to boot,” but there is little doubt that it was a misprint of the quarto.

Note return to page 32 4&lblank; and such like,] The folio reads, “and so forth.” Lower down, for “such a woman,” the folio reads, “such another woman.”

Note return to page 33 5&lblank; no date in the pye,] Dates (says Steevens) were an ingredient in ancient pastry of almost every kind. We have had the same play upon the word in “All's Well that Ends Well,” Vol. iii. p. 212.

Note return to page 34 6&lblank; there he unarms him.] These words are omitted in the folio.

Note return to page 35 7Words, vows, gifts, tears,] Malone (Shakesp. by Boswell, viii. 250) reads griefs for “gifts,” as it stands in all the old copies.

Note return to page 36 8Achievement is command; ungain'd, beseech:] Steevens justly terms this an obscure line, though a meaning may be extracted from it—that meaning being, that when women have once yielded, or have been achieved, they are commanded, but while they are ungained, they are besought. The Rev. Mr. Harness has suggested a very easy and plausible change, which gives the full sense of the author in very distinct terms:— “Achiev'd men us command, ungain'd beseech.” To print “achievement is,” for achiev'd men us, would be an easy error for a compositor to commit; but, nevertheless, we do not feel authorized in varying from the ancient text, which expresses the intention of the poet, though not as clearly, perhaps, as could be desired. “This maxim,” as Cressida calls it, is unusually printed in Italic in the folios and quartos.

Note return to page 37 9Then, though &lblank;] “That though” in the folio editions: “Then though” in the quartos. The last is certainly to be preferred.

Note return to page 38 1And call them shames,] So the quartos; the folio, “And think them shame.”

Note return to page 39 2&lblank; seem all affin'd &lblank;] i. e. joined by affinity or relationship. The word occurs twice in “Othello,” Act i. sc. 1, and Act ii. sc. 3.

Note return to page 40 3&lblank; with a broad and powerful fan,] This is the better reading of the quartos; but that of the folio, “loud and powerful fan,” is not inconsistent with “tempest” in the preceding line.

Note return to page 41 4&lblank; thy godlike seat,] The quarto reads, “the godlike seat,” and the folio, “thy godly seat,” (not “goodly seat,” as Theobald asserted,) and the true reading, “thy godlike seat,” is, therefore, to be made up from both of them.

Note return to page 42 5Upon her patient breast,] The quartos read ancient for “patient” of the folio: if “patient” be a misprint, it certainly is an improvement with reference to the rest of the passage.

Note return to page 43 6&lblank; by the brize,] The “brize” is the gad or horse-fly.

Note return to page 44 7Returns to chiding fortune.] The quartos and folios have retires. Pope made the judicious change to “returns.” Retires is a more probable misprint for “returns” than for replies, which Sir Thomas Hanmer substituted.

Note return to page 45 8To his experienc'd tongue,] This is the better reading of the quartos: the folio gives the passage thus:— “Should with a bond of air, strong as the axletree In which the heavens ride knit all Greek's ears To his experienc'd tongue.”

Note return to page 46 9Speak, prince of Ithaca; and be't of less expect] “Expect” is here used for expectation. This and the four lines following are only in the folio.

Note return to page 47 1&lblank; his mastiff jaws,] In the folio it is printed “masticke jaws,” but it is probably an error of the press. Malone changes mastick to “mastiff,” without observation.

Note return to page 48 2When that the general is not like the hive,] “The meaning,” says Johnson, “is,—When the general is not to the army like the hive to the bees, the repository of the stock of every individual, that to which each particular resorts with whatever he has collected for the good of the whole, what honey is expected? what hope of advantage?” Johnson's explanation may possibly be doubted, and in this passage, as in others, in “Measure for Measure,” Vol. ii. p. 42, and in “Hamlet,” A. ii. sc. 2, “'Twas caviare to the general,” the word “general” might be taken for the general body of the people. Ulysses may mean to ask, what advantage can be expected when the subjects of a king are not like bees, which, after foraging among flowers, all repair to the hive with their honey.

Note return to page 49 3Quite from their fixure!] The modern reading is fixture; but Shakespeare's word is “fixure,” and he uses it also in “The Winter's Tale,” and in “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”

Note return to page 50 4&lblank; each thing meets] So the folio: the quartos have melts. The latter may be right, but the former seems preferable.

Note return to page 51 5Troy in our weakness stands,] The quartos have “stands,” the folio lives.

Note return to page 52 6&lblank; and awkward action] The quartos, “and silly action.”

Note return to page 53 7&lblank; 'tis Agamemnon right.] The folio reads, “'tis Agamemnon just.” “'Tis Nestor right!” which occurs a few lines afterwards, both in the quarto and folio, seems to warrant adherence to the text of the quartos.

Note return to page 54 8As broad Achilles: keeps his tent like him;] This is the reading of the quartos: the folio injures the measure of the line by the insertion of and before “keeps.”

Note return to page 55 9To weaken and discredit our exposure,] The quartos read our for “and” of the folio.

Note return to page 56 1&lblank; to his kingly ears?] So the folio: the quartos read eyes.

Note return to page 57 2And bid the cheek &lblank;] The folio, less intelligibly, “And on the cheek.”

Note return to page 58 3&lblank; and, Jove's accord,] The quartos read, “and great Jove's accord.”

Note return to page 59 4To set his sense on the attentive bent,] So the folio: the quartos, “To set his seat on that attentive bent.”

Note return to page 60 5That seeks his praise &lblank;] The quartos, “feeds his praise.”

Note return to page 61 6&lblank; did couple in his arms;] The folio, “did compass,” &c.

Note return to page 62 7&lblank; if none else, I am he.] The reading of the quartos: the folio, “I'll be he.”

Note return to page 63 8&lblank; in our Grecian host] Here again the reading of the quartos is to be preferred: the folio strangely substitutes mould for “host.”

Note return to page 64 9And in my vantbrace &lblank;] Armour for the arm, avantbras.

Note return to page 65 1I'll prove this truth &lblank;] The folio, “I'll pawn.” In the next line the folio has “forbid” and “youth” for forefend and men of the quartos: there are some other minor variations in this part of the scene.

Note return to page 66 2Fair lord Æneas, let me touch your hand;] This speech in the quartos is made a continuation of what is said by Ulysses.

Note return to page 67 3Why, 'tis most meet:] The folio, “Yes, 'tis most meet.” In the next line the quarto has those honours, and the folio “his honour.”

Note return to page 68 4Which entertain'd, limbs are his instruments,] The word in after “are” crept into this line in the folio: this conclusion of the speech is not in the quarto impressions.

Note return to page 69 5The lustre of the better shall exceed, By showing the worse first.] So the quartos: the folio thus:— “The lustre of the better yet to show Shall show the better.”

Note return to page 70 6&lblank; we all should share with him:] The folio substitutes wear for “share.” The repetition of “share” is in the manner of Shakespeare.

Note return to page 71 7&lblank; for the better man,] The folio, “as the worthier man.”

Note return to page 72 8Must tarre the mastiffs on,] See respecting the word “tarre,” Vol. iv. p. 65. Mr. Barron Field refers me to the following passage in Ben Jonson's Grammatica Anglicana. “R is the dog's letter, and hurreth in the sound; the tongue striking the inner palate with a trembling about the teeth.” So Shakespeare in “Romeo and Juliet,” A. ii. sc. 4, “Ah! mocker: that's the dog's name. R is for the dog.”

Note return to page 73 9Speak then, thou vinewd'st leaven,] i. e. most mouldy leaven: vinewed is mouldy or decayed. In the folio it is misprinted whinid'st, but in the quartos unsalted is substituted.

Note return to page 74 1When thou art forth in the incursions, thou strikest as slow as another.] These words are only in the quarto impressions. If Shakespeare subsequently omitted them, we are to recollect that he also originally wrote them.

Note return to page 75 2Cobloaf!] “A ‘cobloaf,’” says Minsheu, in his Dictionary, 1616, “is a little loaf made with a round head, such as cob-irons which support the fire.”

Note return to page 76 3&lblank; pun thee into shivers &lblank;] “‘Pun,’” says Johnson, “is in the midland counties the vulgar and colloquial word for pound;” and Steevens adds, that “it is used by P. Holland, in his translation of Pliny's ‘Natural History,’ b. xxviii. ch. xii.: ‘—punned altogether and reduced into a liniment.’ Again, b. xxix. ch. iv.: ‘The gall of these lizards punned and dissolved in water.’”

Note return to page 77 4Do, do.] This and the two preceding speeches are run together into one in the quartos, and given to Thersites.

Note return to page 78 5&lblank; an assinego may tutor thee:] “Assinego” is the Portuguese diminutive for an ass: it was often used in this sense by Ben Jonson and our best writers of the time.

Note return to page 79 6Enter Achilles and Patroclus.] Their entrance is not marked in the quartos.

Note return to page 80 7&lblank; ere your grandsires had nails on their toes,] The quartos and folio read, “their grandsires,” which, as Theobald pointed out, must be an error: the words “on their toes” are only in the folio.

Note return to page 81 8No more words, Thersites; peace!] The quartos only have “peace!”

Note return to page 82 9&lblank; when Achilles' brach &lblank;] Printed brooch in all the old copies till the time of Rowe. “Brach” is dog. See Vol. iii. p. 108, and Vol. iv. p. 288. The Rev. Mr. Barry would adhere to brooch, as a thing worn about the neck, but we think Rowe right.

Note return to page 83 1&lblank; by the fifth hour of the sun,] So the folio: the quartos have it “first hour.” It appears by what Thersites says on p. 84, that fifth hour is right.

Note return to page 84 2&lblank; the tent that searches] “Tent” is a surgical term, used both as a verb and substantive: to tent a wound is to search it.

Note return to page 85 3&lblank; 'mongst many thousand dismes,] i. e. tenths, a word which Shakespeare might have found in Holinshed, but which is not of very ordinary occurrence.

Note return to page 86 4And fly like chidden Mercury from Jove,] In all the folio impressions this line is misplaced after the next: the quarto editions print the passage as we have given it.

Note return to page 87 5Should have hare hearts,] So the quartos: the folio, “hard hearts,” clearly an error. Again, farther on, the folio misprints “made idolatry” for “mad idolatry” of the quartos.

Note return to page 88 6&lblank; that is inclinable] So the folio, instead of the less intelligible word, attributive, of the quartos. It could not have been a misprint, and “inclinable” may have been deliberately preferred. Pope was in favour of the folio reading, and Johnson of that of the quartos.

Note return to page 89 7To blench from this,] i. e. to start away from this. See p. 14, note 4.

Note return to page 90 8When we have soil'd them;] The folio, “spoil'd them.” In the next line the folio misprints same for “sieve” of the quartos.

Note return to page 91 9Your breath of full consent &lblank;] The quartos read, “with full consent.”

Note return to page 92 1&lblank; and makes pale the morning.] The folio reads, “makes stale the morning,” which cannot be right.

Note return to page 93 2Enter Cassandra, raving.] This is the stage-direction of the quartos: the folio, in order to show how her “raving” was exhibited on the stage, has it, “Enter Cassandra, with her hair about her ears.” Her entrance is marked too soon in the old copies.

Note return to page 94 3&lblank; wrinkled eld,] The quarto reads, “wrinkled elders:” the folio, “wrinkled old,” which, as Ritson suggests, was probably itself a misprint for eld. Shakespeare, in “Measure for Measure,” Vol. ii. p. 49, has “palsied eld,” and elsewhere he uses “eld” for old age.

Note return to page 95 4&lblank; convince of levity] i. e. “convict of levity.” See Vol. iv. p. 55, where Minsheu is quoted to show that “convince” and convict were sometimes used synonymously.

Note return to page 96 5&lblank; or, rather, the Neapolitan bone-ache;] “Neapolitan” is omitted in the folio.

Note return to page 97 6Thou must tell,] So the quartos: the folio, “Thou mayst tell.”

Note return to page 98 7&lblank; decline the whole question.] “Deduce the question,” says Johnson, “from the first case to the last.”

Note return to page 99 8Patr. You rascal!] This and the three next speeches are only in the folio.

Note return to page 100 9Make that demand of the prover.] It is not easy to account for the variation between the quarto and folio copies here: the former have it as in our text: the latter read, “Make that demand to the Creator.” In general the rule has been to strike out, rather than to insert, profane allusions in the folio, and some of the changes in this respect no doubt were made by the Master of the Revels, in consequence of the stat. 3 Jac. I. ch. 21.

Note return to page 101 1Here is such patchery,] Meaning folly. Fools were often of old called patches, on account of their dress.

Note return to page 102 2Now, the dry serpigo on the subject, and war and lechery confound all!] These words are only in the folio. The serpigo was a kind of tetter, and we have before had it mentioned in “Measure for Measure,” Vol. ii. p. 49. Just above, the folio, for “emulous factions” of the quartos, has “emulations, factions.” We adhere to the quartos, as, indeed, modern editors have done, but without noticing the variation.

Note return to page 103 3We sent our messengers;] The quartos read, “He sate,” and the folio, “He sent.” The ordinary reading since the time of Theobald has been, “He shent,” or rebuked our messengers; but, as Mr. Barron Field observes to me, Achilles had not rebuked any messengers, and the mistake is not in the word sent, as it stands in the folio, but in the word He, which was a mere transcriber's error for “We.”

Note return to page 104 4Let him be told so, lest, perchance, he think We dare not move the question of our place,] So the quartos: the folio, “Let him be told of, so perchance he think;” which might be improved by reading, “Let him be told, if so, perchance, he think;” but the text of the quartos requires no change.

Note return to page 105 5A word, my lord.] Not in the quartos. Farther on, the folio has strong counsel that for “strong composure” of the quartos, and flight for “flexure.”

Note return to page 106 6His pettish lunes, his ebbs, his flows, as if The passage and whole carriage of this action Rode on his tide.] So the folio, excepting that for “lunes” it misprints lines. We have seen “lunes” used in the same way in “The Winter's Tale,” Vol. iii. p. 460. In the quartos the passage is thus given:— “His course and time, his ebbs and flows, and if The passage and whole stream of his commencement Rode on his tide.” There can be no doubt that the text of the folio is an improvement.

Note return to page 107 7Ulysses, enter you.] Thus the folio: the quarto, corruptly, “Ulysses, entertain.” Lower down the folio reads, “I know not what it is” for “I know not what pride is” of the quartos.

Note return to page 108 8And batters down himself:] The folio reads, probably corruptly, “And batters 'gainst itself.” “Death tokens,” in the next line, are the decisive indications of a person being infected with the plague.

Note return to page 109 9&lblank; with his own seam,] i. e. lard or grease: from the Sax. seme.

Note return to page 110 1As amply titled as Achilles is,] The quartos have liked for “titled” of the folio.

Note return to page 111 2&lblank; I'll pheeze his pride:] I'll humble his pride. See “Taming of the Shrew,” Vol. iii. p. 107. To pash, in the preceding speech of Ajax, is to strike, and sometimes to break. The word is still used in Norfolk.

Note return to page 112 3I'll let his humours blood.] In the quartos this passage stands, “I'll tell his humorous blood.” As Malone observes, in 1600 was published a collection of satires, &c. called, “The Letting of Humour's Blood in the head-vein.” It gave offence under this title, and in the next edition it was called “Humours Ordinary.” It was afterwards frequently reprinted under its first title. Malone does not seem to have known these particulars, nor that the name of the author was Samuel Rowlands.

Note return to page 113 4'A would have ten shares.] In the quartos these words are assigned to Ajax: they clearly belong to Ulysses, and to him they are given in the folio. In the next speech, by Nestor, “He's not yet thorough warm,” erroneously has the prefix of Ajax in all the copies, folio and quarto. “Force him with praises” means, “stuff him with praises,” but the quartos have prayers for “praises.” The dialogue is confusedly given in this part of the scene in all the old copies.

Note return to page 114 5&lblank; beyond all erudition;] The folio inserts “beyond” twice.

Note return to page 115 6Ay, my good son.] In the folio this reply is put into the mouth of Ulysses, but it more properly belongs to Nestor, and to him we find it assigned in the quartos. Some have supposed that the words were transferred from Ulysses to Nestor merely by modern editors: it is not only the most ancient, but the most natural reading.

Note return to page 116 7Light boats sail swift, though greater hulks draw deep.] So the quartos: the folio spoils the line by reading may before sail, and misprints bulks for “hulks.” It injures a previous line by omitting “great” before “general.”

Note return to page 117 8You must not know where he sups.] These words are assigned to Helen in the quartos and folio, but evidently improperly, as what has passed between Pandarus and Paris has been apart from Helen: they are an answer by Pandarus to the inquiry of Paris, “Where sups he to-night?” The words, “I'll lay my life,” in the beginning of the next speech of Paris, are only in the quartos.

Note return to page 118 9Love, love, nothing but love, still more!] So the folio. The quartos give this line as follows:— “Love, love, nothing but love, still love still more.”

Note return to page 119 1Sweet, above thought I love thee.] This is the reading of the folio, (the quartos having her for “thee”) which, however, incorrectly assigns the exclamation to Helen: the quartos give it to Paris.

Note return to page 120 2Love's thrice-repured nectar?] So one of the quartos of 1609 (that belonging to the Duke of Devonshire), and so, no doubt, rightly, “repured” being taken in the sense of refined or purified. The folio, by a misprint, has thrice-reputed, which has been ever since repeated.

Note return to page 121 3&lblank; tun'd too sharp in sweetness,] Here the quarto affords the better reading: the folio tamely, and without regard to the figure derived from music, has merely, “and too sharp in sweetness.”

Note return to page 122 4My heart beats thicker &lblank;] i. e. quicker, more rapidly. See “Henry IV.,” part 2, Vol. iv. p. 377.

Note return to page 123 5&lblank; i' the fills.] i. e. in the shafts. Fills, or phills, is still used in some counties for thills, the shafts of a cart or waggon. See Vol. ii. p. 496.

Note return to page 124 6So, so; rub on, and kiss the mistress.] The allusion is to bowling. What is now called the jack, in Shakespeare's time was usually termed the “mistress.”

Note return to page 125 7&lblank; a kiss in fee-farm!] Is a kiss of never-ending duration; a “fee-farm” being (as Malone remarks) a grant of lands in fee, that is, for ever, reserving a certain rent.

Note return to page 126 8The falcon as the tercel, for all the ducks i' the river:] The meaning seems to be, that the “falcon,” or female hawk, is as good as the “tercel,” the male hawk. The saying was, doubtless, proverbial.

Note return to page 127 9&lblank; if my fears have eyes.] The quarto and folio editions have tears for “fears.” The next line corrects the manifest error.

Note return to page 128 1Fears make devils of cherubins;] So all the old copies. Malone and other modern editors read, “Fears make devils cherubins,” which is directly opposite to the poet's meaning.

Note return to page 129 2&lblank; till merit crown it.] The quartos here read, corruptly and unintelligibly, “till merit lover part.”

Note return to page 130 3Cunning in dumbness,] The old copies all read, “Coming in dumbness,” a misprint corrected by Pope. In the next line we follow the quarto: the folio has “My soul of counsel from me.”

Note return to page 131 4&lblank; I would be gone.— Where is my wit? I know not what I speak.] So the quartos: the folio, less connectedly, &lblank; “Where is my wit? I would be gone. I speak I know not what.”

Note return to page 132 5To feed for aye &lblank;] The quartos, “To feed for age.”

Note return to page 133 6&lblank; as plantage to the moon,] “Alluding,” observes Warburton, “to the common opinion of the influence the moon has over what is planted or sown, which was therefore done in the increase.” Farmer makes the following quotation from “Scott's Discoverie of Witchcraft,” 1584: “The poore husbandman perceiveth that the increase of the moone maketh plants frutefull: so as in the full moone they are in the best strength; decaieing in the wane; and in the conjunction do utterlie wither and vade.”

Note return to page 134 7&lblank; I will show you a chamber; which bed, &c.] So all the old copies. Malone, and others before him, added, and a bed, after “chamber;” but the word “chamber” may be supposed to imply a bed.

Note return to page 135 8&lblank; to Jove] It may certainly admit of dispute whether the word in the old copies, quarto as well as folio, be “Jove” or love: Jove was formerly spelt with a capital I; and the l in love is so nearly like it, that the difference is hardly perceptible. The sense seems to require Jove, and we have therefore preferred it. The Rev. Mr. Barry would read, with some of the early editors, “things to come;” but “things above” seems a more probable conjecture.

Note return to page 136 9I know, is such a wrest in their affairs,] Johnson understands “wrest” to mean distortion; while Steevens supposes “wrest” to be misprinted for rest, which is to be taken in the sense of stay or support. All the old copies agree in the mode of printing “wrest,” and Douce would take it to be the old name of the tuner of stringed instruments.

Note return to page 137 1&lblank; before their Tent.] The stage-direction in the quartos is, “Achilles and Patroclus stand in their Tent:” and in the folio, “Enter Achilles and Patroclus in their Tent.”

Note return to page 138 2&lblank; but honour for those honours] The folio reads honour'd.

Note return to page 139 3&lblank; how dearly ever parted,] i. e. says Johnson, however excellently endowed.

Note return to page 140 4&lblank; his virtues shining upon others] So the folio: the quartos, less intelligibly, read aiming for “shining.”

Note return to page 141 5That most pure spirit of sense, behold itself,] This and the preceding line are omitted in the folio, but are obviously necessary.

Note return to page 142 6&lblank; strain at the position,] The folio reads “strain it at the position.”

Note return to page 143 7While pride is fasting &lblank;] The folio has feasting. It may be doubtful which ought to be preferred, the quarto or the folio, and Johnson truly says that “either word may bear a good sense.”

Note return to page 144 8And great Troy shrieking.] So the quartos: the folio shrinking.

Note return to page 145 9Or edge aside &lblank;] The quartos have, “Or turn aside.”

Note return to page 146 1O'er-run and trampled on.] This beautiful simile is only found in the folio, but with some corruption; for instance, “abject rear” is misprinted “abject near.”

Note return to page 147 2&lblank; welcome ever smiles,] The quartos have “the welcome,” which is evidently wrong by measure and meaning, but, nevertheless, the error was reprinted in the folio. In the next line the folio reads “O! let not,” &c.

Note return to page 148 3And give to dust,] “And goe to dust” in the old copies, quarto and folio.

Note return to page 149 4&lblank; sooner catch the eye,] So the quartos: the folio begin to for “sooner,” the compositor having caught the words from the preceding line. In the next line the folio reads out for “once.”

Note return to page 150 5&lblank; Plutus' gold;] The folio reads “Pluto's gold:” the quartos, instead of this line, have merely, “Knows almost every thing.” In the next line they have depth for “deeps.” Lower down, the folio has her island for “our islands.”

Note return to page 151 6The fool slides o'er the ice that you should break.] In Armin's “Nest of Ninnies,” 1608, is a story of a fool who passed over very weak ice, which the writer states would have broken with the weight of any other person. See the reprint by the Shakespeare Society, p. 38.

Note return to page 152 7Be shook to air.] The folio reads, “Be shook to airy air:” it will be observed, as far as that can be any guide, that the measure is complete in the quarto without the tautological epithet.

Note return to page 153 8&lblank; of the Grecian army,] The word “Grecian” is not in the quartos; and in the folio “Agamemnon” is followed by “&c.”

Note return to page 154 9Let me bear another to his horse,] The folio alters “bear” to carry, but the repetition of the word used by Achilles was probably intended.

Note return to page 155 1Witness the process of your speech, wherein] So the quarto: the folio changes “wherein” to within.

Note return to page 156 2This is the most despiteful &lblank;] Thus the quartos: the folio, “This is the most despitefull'st,” &c.

Note return to page 157 3&lblank; of her soilure,] The quartos, “of her soil.”

Note return to page 158 4&lblank; the heavier &lblank;] “Which heavier” is the reading of the folio, which does not seem to afford so distinct a meaning as the quartos.

Note return to page 159 5&lblank; will hide our joys no longer,] The quartos have “joys,” rightly: the folio misprints it eyes.

Note return to page 160 6As tediously as hell;] Here again the quarto text is to be adopted: the folio reads, “hideously as hell.”

Note return to page 161 7&lblank; a poor capocchio!] “In Florio's Italian Dictionary, 1598,” says Malone, “we find, ‘Capocchio, a doult, a loggerhead, a foolish pate, a shallow skonce.’” In all the old copies it is spelt chipochia.

Note return to page 162 8Deliver'd to us;] So the folio: the quarto, erroneously, “Deliver'd to him.” “Deliver'd by him,” meaning Diomed, might be right.

Note return to page 163 9&lblank; the secrets of nature] The quarto corruptly reads, “the secrets of neighbour Pandar.”

Note return to page 164 1Do to this body what extremes you can,] Shakespeare not unfrequently uses “extremes” in this way, see “Romeo and Juliet,” Act iv. sc. 1, &c.: the folio substitutes extremity, which injures the verse.

Note return to page 165 2A priest, there offering to it his own heart.] The folio omits “own,” possibly considering “offering,” as it is strictly, a trisyllable.

Note return to page 166 3And violenteth &lblank;] So the quartos: the folio omits the word altogether, and reads, “And no less in a sense as strong.” Steevens showed violenceth to be a verb used by Ben Jonson; and to violent is a verb in Latimer's Sermons, and in Fuller's “Worthies.” The sense is left imperfect in the folio, by the omission of “violenteth.” The later folios reprint the first, excepting that, to amend the measure, the third folio regulates the passage differently.

Note return to page 167 4&lblank; no qualifying dross,] The folio has cross for “dross,” probably an oversight by the compositor.

Note return to page 168 5&lblank; in so strain'd a purity,] The folio poorly substitutes strange for “strain'd,” the reading of the quartos.

Note return to page 169 6With the rude brevity and discharge of one.] i. e. of one sigh. This is the reading of the quartos: the folio makes the whole passage unintelligible by misprinting “one,” our.

Note return to page 170 7&lblank; by the root!] The quartos, “by my throat.”

Note return to page 171 8&lblank; 'mongst the merry Greeks!] See a former note on the words “merry Greek,” A. i. sc. 2.

Note return to page 172 9When shall we see again?] This question is erroneously given to Troilus in the folio, and rightly to Cressida in the quartos.

Note return to page 173 1Their loving well compos'd with gift of nature, Flowing] This passage is only in the folio: the meaning of course is, that the loving of the Grecian youths is well composed with gift of nature, &c.

Note return to page 174 2&lblank; and parts with person,] So the folio: the quartos, “with portion.”

Note return to page 175 4Nor heel the high lavolt,] The “lavolta” was an active species of dance: we have already had “high lavoltas” mentioned in “Henry V.” Vol. iv. p. 512.

Note return to page 176 4Pleads your fair usage;] The folio misprints “usage” visage. Three lines lower the folio reads towards for “to thee;” and in the following line it has “I praising her” for “In praising her.” We follow the quartos.

Note return to page 177 5I'll answer to my lust;] i. e. to my pleasure. “Lust” is often used by old writers in this sense. Spenser, in his “Fairie Queene,” book v. c. 6, says, “For little lust had she to talk of aught.”

Note return to page 178 6Dei. Let us make ready straight.] This and the four next lines are not in the quarto impressions. In the folio, “Let us make ready straight” is improperly given to Diomed, who had gone out. Malone transferred the words to Deiphobus, to whom they may fitly belong.

Note return to page 179 7&lblank; bias cheek &lblank;] “Swelling out,” says Johnson, “like the bias of a bowl.”

Note return to page 180 8Is not yond' Diomed,] The folio, “Is not young Diomed.”

Note return to page 181 9And parted thus you and your argument.] This line, not absolutely necessary to the sense, is only in the quartos.

Note return to page 182 1That give a coasting welcome ere it comes,] Some dispute arose among the commentators respecting the precise meaning of the word “coasting” in this line. “Coast” seems derived from the Fr. coste, the side, and in some of our older writers “coast” is used as synonymous with side. In the line in our text “a coasting” may therefore mean a sidling advance. In a passage from “Venus and Adonis,” quoted by Malone, Shakespeare uses the verb to “coast” in the sense of approaching: “Anon she hears them chant it lustily, And all in haste she coasteth to the cry.” Coleridge (Lit. Rem. vol. ii. p. 134) suggests accosting for “a coasting.”

Note return to page 183 2To every tickling reader!] So the folio: the quartos, ticklish. Farther on the quartos have “the state” for “you state.”

Note return to page 184 3&lblank; or shall be divided] The quarto inserts they after “shall.” Five lines lower the folio reads disprising for “misprising” of the quartos.

Note return to page 185 4'Tis done like Hector;] This speech in the old copies, quarto and folio, is assigned to Agamemnon. What follows shows it to belong to Achilles.

Note return to page 186 5They are oppos'd already.] These words are only in the folio. After “a true knight,” two lines lower, the folio adds, “They call him Troilus,” but the same information is given farther on in the speech of Ulysses, and is not required here. We, therefore, adopt the reading of the quartos.

Note return to page 187 6&lblank; an impair thought &lblank;] A thought unworthy of him, not equal to him. It is printed impare in the quarto impressions, and hence the Rev. H. Barry suggests that the true reading may have been impure, but we adhere to the ancient authorities. Chapman uses “impair” in his “Shield of Achilles,” 1598; and in the folio the word is spelt impaire.

Note return to page 188 7That any drop &lblank;] The quarto misprints “drop” day, and “borrow'dst” borrow'st.

Note return to page 189 8Worthy of arms!] In the quartos this speech consists only of the first two lines and of the last line. It begins in the quartos, “Worthy all arms.”

Note return to page 190 9Despising many forfeits and subduements,] This is the reading of the quartos: the folio gives the line, “And seen thee scorning forfeits and subduements.”

Note return to page 191 1&lblank; unto my standers-by,] The quartos, “to some my standers by.”

Note return to page 192 2&lblank; have hemm'd thee in,] The quartos read, “have shrapd thee in,” the folio as in our text.

Note return to page 193 3As they contend with thee in courtesy.] This line is only in the folio.

Note return to page 194 4And quoted joint by joint.] i. e. noted. The word is thus used by Ben Jonson, Webster, and other writers of the time.

Note return to page 195 5As I would buy thee,] Boswell tells us that “the first folio reads pry thee.” Such is not the case with any copy of the first folio I have seen.

Note return to page 196 6Wert thou an oracle &lblank;] “Wert thou the oracle” in the folio.

Note return to page 197 7&lblank; that stithied Mars his helm,] A stith is an anvil, and a stithy the place where an anvil is employed.

Note return to page 198 8&lblank; the general state, I fear, Can scarce entreat you to be odd with him.] i. e. to be at odds with him, or to contend with him. Ajax refers to the reluctance of Achilles to take the field.

Note return to page 199 9We have had pelting wars,] i. e. trifling, insignificant wars. In “Measure for Measure,” A. ii. sc. 2, we have “pelting” explained by the use of a synonyme, “every pelting petty officer.”

Note return to page 200 1There in the full convive we:] The folio, “convive you.”

Note return to page 201 2Beat loud the tabourines,] Instead of these words the quarto carries on the sentence after “entreat him” with the words “To taste your bounties.”

Note return to page 202 3&lblank; upon the heaven, nor earth,] “On heaven nor on earth” the folio.

Note return to page 203 4She was belov'd, she lov'd;] The quartos, poorly, “She was belov'd, my lord, she is, and doth.”

Note return to page 204 5How now, thou cur of envy!] So the quartos, although Boswell informs us that they read curse. The folio has “core of envy,” which may, or may not, have been a misprint.

Note return to page 205 6&lblank; cold palsies,] After these words the folio adds, “and the like,” and then proceeds, “take and take again,” &c., as in the quartos.

Note return to page 206 7&lblank; skein of sleave silk,] “Sleave silk” was what we now call floss silk, soye flosche, Fr. It was the coarse unwrought material. In his Italian Dictionary, 1598, Florio translates capitone, “a kind of coarse silk, called sleave silk.” It is to this that Macbeth alludes when, in A. ii. sc. 2, he says, “Sleep, that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care.” In the passage before us for “sleave silk” of the quartos, the folio prints “sley'd silk.”

Note return to page 207 8&lblank; hanging at his brother's leg,] So the folio: the quartos, “his bare leg.”

Note return to page 208 9And any man may sing her, if he can take her cliff;] The allusion in these two speeches is, of course, to singing at sight. The folio introduces a strange corruption, and those editors who profess to adopt the text of the folio, 1623, necessarily desert it here for that of the quartos, but without notice. The folio reads, “And any man may find her, if he can take her life.”

Note return to page 209 1You flow to great distraction;] So the folio: the quartos, distruction. Some misprint may be suspected in the word “flow.”

Note return to page 210 2Give't me again.] In the quartos this speech is assigned to Troilus.

Note return to page 211 3&lblank; Nay, do not snatch it from me; He that takes that doth take my heart withal.] In the old copies, quarto and folio, the first line is given to Diomed, and the last only to Cressida; whereas, as Thirlby suggested, both belong to Cressida. The folio omits “doth,” necessary to the measure, and found in the quartos. Malone read must for “doth.”

Note return to page 212 4&lblank; but that that likes not you,] The folio, “but that that likes not me,” and perhaps rightly.

Note return to page 213 5&lblank; how these two did co-act] So the folio: the quartos, court.

Note return to page 214 6That doth invert the attest of eyes and ears;] So the quartos: the folio, “That doth invert that test,” &c., the compositor having printed from his ear. In the next line the folio is right in reading “had” for were of the quartos.

Note return to page 215 7&lblank; and against itself!] So the quartos: the folio thyself. In the next line the quarto is also, probably, right in reading “Bi-fold authority” instead of “By foul authority,” as it stands in the folio.

Note return to page 216 8&lblank; five-finger-tied,] The quarto misreads “find finger-tied.”

Note return to page 217 9&lblank; are given to Diomed.] The folio, “are bound to Diomed.”

Note return to page 218 1&lblank; by the almighty sun,] The folio has here a strange misprint, where it reads fen for “sun” of the quartos.

Note return to page 219 2By all the everlasting gods, I'll go.] The folio, to the injury of the metre, omits “all.” In the preceding line the folio has “get you gone” for “get you in” of the quarto. “Get you gone” is to be avoided, because “go” occurs immediately after; and in one of Hector's subsequent speeches to Andromache he says to her, “get you in.”

Note return to page 220 3&lblank; hot and peevish vows:] i. e. foolish, inconsiderate vows. See Vol. ii. p. 150; Vol. iii. p. 348; Vol. iv. p. 286; and Vol. v. p. 95. 333.

Note return to page 221 4For us to give much count to violent thefts,] This line is so corrupt in the folio, 1623, where first it is found, as to afford no sense, “For we would count give much to use violent thefts.” The words and their arrangement are the same in the second and third folios, while the fourth only alters “would” to “will.” Tyrwhitt read, “For we would give much to use violent thefts,” which is objectionable, not merely because it wanders from the text, but because it inserts a phrase, “to use violent thefts,” which is awkward, and unlike Shakespeare. The reading I have adopted is that suggested by Mr. Amyot, who observes upon it, “Here, I think, with little more than transposition, (‘us’ being substituted for we, and would omitted,) the meaning, as far as we can collect it, is not departed from, nor perverted, as in Rowe's strange interpolation, ‘For us to count we give what's gain'd by thefts.’ The original is one of the few passages, which, as it seems to me, must be left to the reader's sagacity, and of the difficulties attending which we cannot arrive at any satisfactory solution.”

Note return to page 222 5Mine honour keeps the weather of my fate:] i. e. “My honour maintains its advantage over my fate.” “To keep the weather” is a sea phrase, and means to keep to windward, in a commanding position.

Note return to page 223 6But by my ruin.] These words are only in the folio.

Note return to page 224 7Behold, distraction, frenzy, and amazement,] The quartos have destruction for “distraction,” of the folio: the poet probably meant to unite “distraction” with “frenzy and amazement.” Lower down the folio poorly reads, “Do deeds of praise,” for “worth praise” of the quartos.

Note return to page 225 8But edifies another with her deeds.] After this line the folio adds as follows. “Pan. Why, but hear you! “Troy. Hence, brother lackey! ignomy and shame Pursue thy life, and live aye with thy name.” The two last lines (with a similar introduction by Pandarus) are also found just before the close of the play. They cannot be rightly inserted in both places, and as they seem to come in with at least equal propriety, and with the correction of a misprint, subsequently, we have given them in that place, and omitted them here. Such is the case in the quartos.

Note return to page 226 9&lblank; like scaled sculls] Steevens proves very distinctly that a scull (which previous editors had displaced for shoal) means a shoal of fish, and that it was so used by some of our best writers. As to the epithet scaled, it is printed in the quartos scaling, which may have been a misprint for scaly. Malone contended that scaled was dispersed, but no such sense of the word is required here.

Note return to page 227 1And there the strawy Greeks,] So the quartos, with obvious propriety: the folio alters the word to straying.

Note return to page 228 2&lblank; I will not look upon.] i. e. look on: so in “Henry VI.” part iii. Vol. iv. p. 265.—“whiles the foe doth rage and look upon,” &c. In the next line, “you cogging Greeks” means “you cheating Greeks.” See Vol. ii. p. 359.

Note return to page 229 3I reck not though I end &lblank;] The quartos have “I end,” the folio, “thou end.” Either may be right.

Note return to page 230 4I'll frush it,] To “frush” is to break or bruise, and is not unfrequently met with in this sense. The meaning of it is ascertained by the following passage in “The Destruction of Troy,” a book which, in some form, Shakespeare had before him when he wrote this play: “Saying these wordes, Hercules caught by the head poor Lychas,—and threw him against a rocke so fiercely, that hee to-frushed and all to-burst his bones, and so slew him.”

Note return to page 231 5In fellest manner execute your aims.] So the quarto belonging to the Duke of Devonshire, and not arms, as it stands in the other quarto, nor arm, as it is given in the folio. This slight variation in the copies makes clear a passage which gave the commentators some trouble. The letter i in the Duke of Devonshire's quarto is a little indistinct. Steevens at one time conjectured that the true reading was aims.

Note return to page 232 6Even with the vail and dark'ning of the sun,] Johnson justly remarks that “vail” here means descent, or sinking. It is a substantive formed of the verb to vail, which is to lower, or submit, in its ordinary sense. Instances of its use may be seen in Vol. ii. p. 89. 361. 476; Vol. iii. p. 200, &c. For “dark'ning” of the quartos, the folio reads darking.

Note return to page 233 7So, Ilion, fall thou next!] “Next” is from the quartos: it is necessary to the metre. Two lines lower, “and” is derived from the quartos for the same reason.

Note return to page 234 8Hark! a retire &lblank;] The folio has retreat: the quartos “retire,” which in this play we have seen used synonymously with “retreat.”

Note return to page 235 9And, stickler like,] “A stickler,” says Malone, “was one who stood by to part the combatants, when victory could be determined without bloodshed.”

Note return to page 236 1Pleas'd with this dainty bit,] The folio prints bed for “bit;” bed is obviously wrong.

Note return to page 237 2Never go home: &c.] This line in the quartos is given to Troilus.

Note return to page 238 3&lblank; and smile at Troy!] So the old copies, quarto and folio. Sir T. Hanmer read “smite at Troy,” with some plausibility; but we adhere to the old text, taking “smile at Troy” as meaning “smile” in derision.

Note return to page 239 4Cold statues of the youth;] The folio, “Cool statues of the youth.”

Note return to page 240 5Thus proudly pight &lblank;] i. e. pitch'd, which, in fact, is the word in the quartos. We meet with it again in “King Lear,” Act ii. sc. 1.

Note return to page 241 6&lblank; ignomy and shame] The quartos have “ignominy, shame,” for “ignomy and shame” of the folio. Respecting “ignomy” see Vol. ii. p. 45, and Vol. iv. p. 332. It is to be observed, that in the previous insertion of this passage in the folio “broker” is misprinted brother; and the editor of the second folio repeated brother here: the third folio gives it “brothel lackey.”

Note return to page 242 7&lblank; why should our endeavour be so loved, and the performance so loathed?] The folio substitutes desired for “loved,” and thereby injures the antithesis.

Note return to page 243 8&lblank; in your painted cloths.] Painted cloth was tapestry with which rooms were formerly hung, and on which were often written various moral texts and maxims. The allusions to “painted cloths” in our old writers are innumerable: the following is from Shakespeare's “Lucrece”— “Who fears a sentence, or an old man's saw, Shall by a painted cloth be kept in awe.”

Note return to page 244 9Some galled goose of Winchester would hiss:] For an explanation of “Winchester goose,” see Vol. v. p. 21.

Note return to page 245 “The Tragedy of Coriolanus” was first printed in the folio of 1623, where it occupies thirty pages, viz. from p. 1 to p. 30 inclusive, a new pagination commencing with that drama. In the folio of 1632 the new pagination begins with “Troilus and Cressida,” and in the folios of 1664 and 1685 “Coriolanus” is inserted in the same order.

Note return to page 246 1First inserted by Rowe in his edition.

Note return to page 247 1Nay, but speak not maliciously.] This speech has the prefix of All to it, but that can hardly be right; and it is in the same spirit as the applause the 2d Cit. has previously given, and subsequently gives, to Coriolanus.

Note return to page 248 2&lblank; we have strong arms, too.] This and various subsequent speeches are assigned in the folios to the second Citizen. Malone thought they should rather belong to the first Citizen, and he altered the prefix accordingly. We adhere to the reading of the old copies, not thinking the reason assigned by Malone, of discordance with what the second Citizen had previously said, at all sufficient to warrant so repeated a deviation.

Note return to page 249 3To scale 't a little more.] To “scale” is to disperse, as many instances might be brought to prove. The word is still used in our northern counties, with reference to the scattering of seed, or the spreading of manure. See Holloway's General Provincial Dictionary, 8vo. 1838.

Note return to page 250 4I' the midst o' the body,] This tale is taken very literally from North's Plutarch—“That on a time all the members of man's bodie dyd rebell against the bellie, complaining of it that it only remained in the middest of the bodie,” &c. p. 240, edit. 1579, folio.

Note return to page 251 5&lblank; it tauntingly replied] The folio reads, “it taintingly replied.”

Note return to page 252 6The one side must have bale.] i. e. sorrow, calamity.

Note return to page 253 7&lblank; I'd make a quarry] “Quarry” generally means a heap of dead game; and Bullokar, in his “English Expositor,” (as quoted by Malone,) 8vo, 1616, says, also, that “a quarry among hunters signifieth the reward given to hounds after they have hunted, or the venison which is taken by hunting.”

Note return to page 254 8As I could pick my lance.] i. e. Pitch my lance: a pitch-fork is still called a pick-fork in some parts of the country.

Note return to page 255 9&lblank; the heart of generosity.] To give the final blow (says Johnson) to the nobles. “Generosity” is high birth.

Note return to page 256 10&lblank; he will not spare to gird the gods.] i. e. to reproach, taunt, or gibe. See, for the substantive, Vol. v. p. 52. The words “the bishop hath a kindly gird,” in that place may mean that the king has just given Beaufort a gentle reproof.

Note return to page 257 1Of his demerits rob Cominius.] Merits and “demerits” had anciently the same meaning.

Note return to page 258 2More than his singularity,] Modern editors read “in singularity,” contrary to all the old authorities.

Note return to page 259 3To take in many towns,] To “take in” is to subdue. It was used in this sense by many writers of the time of Shakespeare; and it occurs again in A. iii. sc. 2, of this tragedy.

Note return to page 260 4&lblank; we shall ever strike Till one can do no more.] So the folio, 1623: Malone (Shakespeare by Boswell) gives a directly contrary sense by reading—“we shall never strike.” “We shall ever strike” is, of course, “We shall continue to strike.”

Note return to page 261 5Than gilt his trophy:] “Gilt” was often used for gilding: we have already had it often so employed. See also “Henry V.” Vol. iv. p. 481 and 542.

Note return to page 262 6At Grecian sword's contending.] The folio misprints “contending” contenning, which the second folio alters to contending, and prints sword “swords.” We feel bound to follow this authority, as next in authenticity; but “contemning” —Hector's forehead contemning at the Grecian sword—seems, possibly, the word which was written by Shakespeare, and misread by the old compositor.

Note return to page 263 7A crack, madam.] A “crack” means a boy generally. See Vol. iv. p. 398. Here it is to be taken for a fine forward boy. See Gifford's note to “The Unnatural Combat,” Massinger's Works, vol. i. p. 129.

Note return to page 264 8Re-enter Marcius enraged.] The stage-direction of the old copy is, “Enter Marcius cursing.”

Note return to page 265 9As they us to our trenches follow.] The folio has follows—a mere typographical error. The ordinary reading is in the past tense, followed; but it is evident that it should be in the present.

Note return to page 266 10Thou art left, Marcius:] Possibly we ought to read lost for “left,”—a very easy misprint, when in MS. both the s and the f were carried below the line. “Thou art left,” however, affords a very clear sense.

Note return to page 267 1Even to Cato's wish,] In the old copy it stands, “Even to Calues wish;” but it is clearly a misprint, and Theobald pointed out the passage in North's Plutarch, from which Shakespeare took, not only the thought, but almost the very words of the text. “He was even such another as Cato would have a souldier and a captaine be; not only terrible and fierce to laye about him, but to make the enemie afeard with the sound of his voyce, and grimnes of his countenance.” Edit. 1579, p. 240.

Note return to page 268 2&lblank; that do prize their hours] So the old copies: Pope changed “hours” to honours; but Steevens showed, by a reference to North's Plutarch, that Coriolanus reproached the Romans with losing their time in collecting spoil:—“He cried out to them that it was no time now to looke after spoyle,” &c.

Note return to page 269 3They have plac'd their men of trust?] So, in the old translation of Plutarch by North, p. 241, edit. 1579:—“Martius asked him howe the order of their enemies battell was, and on which side they had placed their best fighting men. The consul made him aunswer, that he thought the bandes which were in the voward of their battell were those of the Antiates, whom they esteemed to be the warlikest men, and which for valliant corage would geve no place to any of the hoste of their enemies. Then prayed Martius to be set directly against them. The consul graunted him, greatly praysing his corage.” We have quoted this passage, not merely because it shows how closely Shakespeare adhered to his original, but because it enables us decisively to correct an error in the folio, 1623, where antients, in the next line, is misprinted for “Antiates,” although it occurs just afterwards, and is there properly spelt. The mistake would correct itself, if “ancients” had not of old meant standards and standard-bearers.

Note return to page 270 4&lblank; in some other fight,] Boswell misprints “fight” sight.

Note return to page 271 5Enter Marcius and Aufidius.] “At several doors,” adds the stage-direction of the folio. In the next scene, representing the Roman camp, Cominius, &c. enter “at one door,” and Marcius, &c. “at another door.”

Note return to page 272 6Here is the steed, we the caparison:] The meaning (says Johnson) is, “this man performed the action, and we only filled up the show.”

Note return to page 273 7Let them be made an overture for the wars!] This and the five preceding lines have occasioned comment, but we do not think that any of the modern explanations have quite arrived at the full sense of the poet. We regulate the passage as in the first folio, and, adhering, with a slight exception, to the words of the original, we only adopt a different punctuation. The meaning of Coriolanus seems to be, “Let drums and trumpets never sound more, if they are to be profaned by you into flatterers: leave it to courts and cities to be made of false-fac'd soothing, when steel grows as soft as the parasite's silk; but let them (drums and trumpets) be made a prelude to the wars.” We do not see the necessity for any change, but of him to “them,” in which we follow Mr. Knight. Tyrwhitt would alter “him,” in the last line, to this, and “overture” to coverture; but in all cases, when sense can be made of it, we prefer to give the poet's language, as far as the folio, 1623, will enable us to ascertain it.

Note return to page 274 8Cor. I will go wash;] In the prefixes of the folio he is nevertheless still called Marcius. Lartius also afterwards says, “Marcius, his name?” as it were, forgetting “the addition” just before made by Cominius.

Note return to page 275 9The best, with whom we may articulate,] i. e. The principal persons of Corioli, with whom we may enter into articles. For a similar use of “articulate,” see Vol. iv. p. 319.

Note return to page 276 1Shall fly out of itself:] So the old copies: we might read, “My valour, poison'd with only suffering stain by him, shall fly out of itself.”

Note return to page 277 2Embarquements all of fury,] “Embarquement” is to be taken here in the sense of embargoes or impediments. Coleridge (Lit. Rem. vol. ii. p. 135.) was disposed to think this speech out of nature.

Note return to page 278 3I cannot say,] In the old copies, “I can say.”

Note return to page 279 4&lblank; bisson conspectuities,] “Bisson,” blind; from the Sax. bison. In the old copies it is beesome: Theobald made the change.

Note return to page 280 5Good den to your worships:] i. e. Good even, properly; but it was also used for good day. See Vol. ii. p. 229. 319; Vol. iv. p. 14.

Note return to page 281 6On's brows:] This is Volumnia's answer to the question, “Brings 'a victory in his pocket?” It is clear from what is said subsequently that Coriolanus was not wounded on his brows.

Note return to page 282 7In honour follows, Coriolanus:] The folio gives this line erroneously, by reading, “In honour follows Marcius Caius Coriolanus.” In the preceding line, instead of Caius Marcius, it has Marcius Caius. From henceforward he is called Coriolanus in the prefixes of the old editions.

Note return to page 283 8The Tribunes remain.] In the old copies, the tribunes, Brutus and Sicinius, are made to “enter” after the departure of Coriolanus, &c.; but they had in fact only stood back, or “aside” as the folio has it, on the entrance of Volumnia, Virgilia, and Valeria, and now come forward.

Note return to page 284 9Into a rapture lets her baby cry] In reference to the word “rapture” in this line, Steevens made the following apposite quotation from “The Hospital for London's Follies,” 1602, where Gossip Luce says, “Your darling will weep itself into a rapture, if you take not good heed.”

Note return to page 285 10&lblank; the kitchen malkin] “Malkin,” observes Ritson, is properly the diminutive of Mal (Mary); as Wilkin, Tomkin, &c. In Scotland, pronounced Maukin, it signifies a hare. Grey malkin (corruptly grimalkin) is a cat. The kitchen malkin is the same as the scullion. In Holloway's “Provincial Dictionary,” 8vo, 1838, we are informed that Malkin or Maukin, in Norfolk and Suffolk, signifies “a scarecrow,” and that it is also applied to “a dirty ragged blouzy wench.” Mr. Amyot confirms these explanations to me.

Note return to page 286 1Her richest lockram 'bout her reechy neck,] “Lockram” was a species of cheap linen used by the lower orders, not unfrequently mentioned. “Reechy” means dirty or smoky.

Note return to page 287 2&lblank; who have their provand] “Provand” is the old word for provender, which some editors have substituted. It is usually printed provant.

Note return to page 288 3Shall teach the people,] Theobald plausibly read, “shall reach the people;” but no change seems necessary, if we take “teach the people” in the sense of “instruct the people to do what we desire.”

Note return to page 289 4&lblank; the Tribunes take theirs also by themselves.] The stage-direction of the folio adds, “Coriolanus stands,” but at all events he takes his seat before we come to the stage-direction, “Coriolanus rises, and offers to go away.”

Note return to page 290 5By Caius Marcius Coriolanus;] Here again the folio transposes the two first names. In the next line it reads met for “meet.”

Note return to page 291 6You sooth'd not, therefore hurt not.] You did not flatter me, and therefore did not offend me. To “soothe” and “soothe up” were often used in this sense. We have had “false-fac'd soothing” on p. 168.

Note return to page 292 7He lurch'd all swords of the garland.] Ben Jonson, as Steevens remarked, has the same expression in “The Silent Woman:” “—you have lurch'd your friends of the better half of the garland.” (Works by Gifford, vol. iii. p. 495.) Malone truly adds, that “to lurch all swords of the garland” was to gain from all other warriors the wreath of victory, with ease, and incontestable superiority. Coles, in his Dictionary, 1677, has, “A lurch, duplex palma, facilis victoria.”

Note return to page 293 8Enter several Citizens.] The number the theatre could afford would seem by the old stage-direction to have been “seven or eight.”

Note return to page 294 9Once,] i. e. I say at once. This mode of expression was not very uncommon. Just below “once” is used in the sense of when once:—“for once we stood up about the corn,” &c.

Note return to page 295 1Enter two Citizens.] The old copy says “three Citizens;” but wrongly, as Coriolanus observes, “here comes a brace.”

Note return to page 296 2Not mine own desire.] The first and second folios have, “But mine own desire,” which the observation of the 3d Citizen shows to have been an error of the press: it was corrected in the third folio, of 1664.

Note return to page 297 3Why in this woolvish toge] “Toge” is of course from toga, and is misprinted tongue in the folio, 1623, and altered to gown (the editor not understanding tongue) in the folio, 1632. As to the word “woolvish,” we print it as in the original, and it has been doubted whether it means woollen or wolfish. Johnson understood it as rough, hirsute, which can hardly be right, because the gown was “napless,” as we have before been informed.

Note return to page 298 4Of him that did not ask, but mock, bestow Your sued-for tongues?] We have more than once observed upon the licence formerly allowed in the use of prepositions: “bestow of him your sued-for tongues” was the language of the time, instead of “bestow on him,” to which modern editors have changed it. On page 196 we have “in” used where we should now insert of—“Repent in their election.”

Note return to page 299 5[And Censorinus, darling of the people,] It is evident that something is here wanting, for “And nobly nam'd so,” &c. cannot apply to Publius and Quintus, but does apply to Censorinus, who is the very person mentioned in North's Plutarch, from which this speech is taken. The line was therefore inserted by Pope, to make sense of the passage, and as it will not read without some addition of the kind, we adopt it, though unwillingly, including it between brackets. It may be fit, in justification, to quote what we refer to from North's Plutarch, by which it will be seen that Shakespeare almost verbally follows him:—“The house of the Martians at Rome was of the number of the patricians, out of which hath sprong many noble personages: whereof Ancus Martius was one, king Numaes daughter's sonne, who was king of Rome after Tullus Hostilius. Of the same house were Publius and Quintus, who brought to Rome their best water they had by conducts. Censorinus also came of that familie, that was so surnamed, because the people had chosen him censor twice.”

Note return to page 300 6And nobly nam'd so, twice being censor,] We only quote this line to show the liberties Steevens took with Shakespeare's text, in order, as he termed it, to improve the versification of our great dramatist. He altered the conclusion of the line to “being censor twice,” merely, as he avowed, for the sake of harmony. Shakespeare seems to have entertained a different notion; and what Steevens calls “harmony,” Shakespeare probably considered monotony. His great object, as regards versification, seems from the first to have been to free it from the weighty words constantly recurring at the ends of lines, which gave such a burdensome dulness to the delivery of the verse of his immediate predecessors. Steevens, by his alteration, introduced the very fault which Shakespeare seems to have been anxious to avoid.

Note return to page 301 7Scaling his present bearing with his past,] “Scaling” here means balancing or weighing, and is a different word to the verb scale, employed in A. i. sc. 1 of this play; and probably a different word again to “scaled” in “Measure for Measure,” Vol. ii. p. 57. However, in the latter instance, “scaled,” by a somewhat forced construction, may mean weighed, in order to ascertain the worth of Angelo.

Note return to page 302 8You are like to do such business.] Malone transferred this speech to Coriolanus from Cominius, to whom it is given in the old copies. The prefixes could not very easily have been mistaken by the printer, as that of Coriolanus in this part of the scene is Corio., and that of Cominius, Com. We adhere to the ancient authorities, for the later folios make no change.

Note return to page 303 9For the mutable, rank-scented many,] The etymology of “many” is said by Douce to be the Fr. mesgnie, (Sax. menigo) and in this place it is spelt meynie in the folio, 1623: in the folios of 1632 and 1664 it stands meyny; and it did not appear in its form of “many” till the folio of 1685. It was not very usual in the time of Shakespeare to spell it meynie or meyny.

Note return to page 304 1&lblank; against those meazels,] A “meazel” in old English was equivalent to a leper. It is so used by Chaucer, and the word is found in various later writers.

Note return to page 305 2O, good but most unwise patricians!] The folios all read “O God!” with a mark of admiration after it, a point not often used; yet there can be little doubt that Theobald was right in altering it to “O! good,” &c.

Note return to page 306 3Then vail your ignorance:] Johnson thus explains this passage:—“If this man has power, let the ‘ignorance’ that gave it him ‘vail’ or bow down before him.” Instances of a corresponding use of the word “vail” may be found in Vol. ii. p. 89. 361. 476; and Vol. iii. p. 200.

Note return to page 307 4Was not our recompence,] So all editions, ancient and modern; but in Mr. Holgate's copy of the fourth folio, which formerly belonged to Southern, that poet has substituted their in the margin for “our,” with some appearance of propriety.

Note return to page 308 5Where one part &lblank;] No doubt this is the correct reading, as is shown by the context; but all the folios have “Whereon part,” &c.

Note return to page 309 6To jump a body with a dangerous physic] Steevens quoted the following from P. Holland's translation of Pliny's Natural History, b. xxv. c. 5, to show that “to jump” here means to risk, as in “Macbeth,” A. i. sc. 7, “We'd jump the life to come,”—“If we looke for good successe in our cure by ministring ellebore, &c. for certainly it putteth the patient to a jumpe or great hazard.” In “Antony and Cleopatra, A. iii. sc. 8., a similar use of the substantive occurs: —“Our fortune lies upon this jump,” i. e. upon this hazard.

Note return to page 310 7Enter an Ædile.] So the folios. In modern editions, Brutus is made to go out, on the order of Sicinius, to “call the people;” but it seems much more proper that he should remain on the scene.

Note return to page 311 8We'll surety him.] These words have the prefix of “All” in the old copies, meaning the senators, who offer to become surety for Coriolanus. In other parts of this scene, where the senators speak as a body, the prefix in the folio is Sen. or Senat.

Note return to page 312 9This is clean kam.] i. e. “Merely awry,” as Brutus just afterwards interprets it. So Cotgrave translates Tout va à contrepoil, All goes clean contrary, quite kam. Vulgar pronunciation (says Steevens) has corrupted clean kam into kim kam, and this corruption is preserved in that great repository of ancient vulgarisms, Stanyhurst's Translation of Virgil, 1582:— Scinditur incertum studia in contraria vulgus. “The wavering commons in kym kam sectes are haled.” Hence camous and camused, which last occurs, among other places, in Ben Jonson's “Sad Shepherd,” Act ii. sc. 1. (Works by Gifford, vol. vi. p. 276.)

Note return to page 313 1&lblank; to bring him in peace] Pope left out “in peace,” because the same words occur just below; but Menenius may be reasonably supposed to repeat them, by way of emphasis, and to show the Tribunes in what condition of mind he will undertake to bring Coriolanus.

Note return to page 314 2The thwartings of your dispositions,] The old copies have things for “thwartings,” introduced by Theobald: it would be difficult to find a better word, considering either the sense, or the probability that the compositor misrea the manuscript from which he printed.

Note return to page 315 3Before he should thus stoop to the herd,] Another amendment by Theobald: the folios have heart for “herd;” and “thus stoop to the heart” is not altogether unintelligible.

Note return to page 316 4Tent in my cheeks;] To “tent,” says Johnson, here is to take up residence. Shakespeare does not elsewhere use it as a verb in this sense.

Note return to page 317 5But owe thy pride thyself.] i. e. Own thy pride, or derive it from thyself. For this sense of the verb “to owe,” see Vol. ii. p. 45. 136; Vol. iii. p. 254. 348; Vol. iv. p. 26. 70, &c.

Note return to page 318 6&lblank; his envy to the people;] “Envy” was of old constantly used in the sense of hatred: of this we have had many examples. The word is met with again in the same sense in this scene.

Note return to page 319 7Throng our large temples &lblank;] The folio, 1623, has “Through our large temples,” which Theobald corrected. The error is in all the folios.

Note return to page 320 8His rougher accents &lblank;] Actions in all the old copies, and properly corrected by Theobald.

Note return to page 321 9&lblank; and can show from Rome,] Another instance of the licentious use of prepositions in Shakespeare's time—“from Rome,” instead of for Rome. Theobald needlessly substituted for.

Note return to page 322 10Making not &lblank;] “Making but” in old copies. Capell's correction.

Note return to page 323 1To say, extremity was the trier of spirits;] So the second folio: the first has extremities. Malone, nevertheless, persevered in reading, “extremities was the trier of spirits.”

Note return to page 324 2A noble cunning.] The sense, observes Johnson, is, “When Fortune strikes her hardest blows, to be wounded and yet continue calm, requires a generous policy.”

Note return to page 325 3My first son,] “First” seems here to be taken in the sense of noblest.

Note return to page 326 4More than a wild exposture &lblank;] It may be doubted whether we ought not to read exposure: if the text, however, be a misprint, it is supported by all the folios. Southern altered his fourth folio to exposure.

Note return to page 327 5Are you mankind?] i. e. Are you of the male sex; are you masculine? See Vol. iii. p. 465. Volumnia in her reply to Sicinius takes “mankind” merely in the sense of human.

Note return to page 328 6My birth-place hate I,] The old copies read, “My birth-place have I.” The emendation was left for Steevens.

Note return to page 329 7&lblank; that he gives entrance to such companions?] “Companion” was often used in Shakespeare's time derogatorily, as Aufidius uses fellow afterwards. Another instance occurs in this play, A. v. sc. 2, where Menenius calls the guard, who keeps him back from Coriolanus, “companion.”

Note return to page 330 8A heart of wreak in thee,] i. e. a heart of revenge; from the Sax. vræcan. It is of perpetual occurrence in writers of the time, but seems to have gone out of general use prior to the Restoration.

Note return to page 331 9And scarr'd the moon with splinters!] We print the word “scarr'd” as in all the old copies; though, as Steevens thought, it may be only a misprint for scar'd. He quoted a passage from “The Winter's Tale,” where scar'd was printed scarr'd in the folio, 1623: “They have scarr'd away two of my best sheep.” See Vol. iii. p. 483.

Note return to page 332 1Here I clip] i. e. Here I embrace. See Vol. iii. p. 533; Vol. iv. p. 85; and Vol. v. p. 180.

Note return to page 333 2Like a bold flood o'er-bear.] Steevens conjectured that the true reading was probably “Like a bold flood o'er-bear,” but he observed that the old copy has “o'er-beat.” Such is the case with the folio, 1623, belonging to the Duke of Devonshire, while that of Lord Francis Egerton has “o'er-beare.” “O'er-beat” is the reading of the second, third, and fourth folios. Southern altered the word in his copy of the fourth folio (now the property of Mr. Holgate) to “o'er-bear.”

Note return to page 334 3&lblank; he might have broiled and eaten him too.] The old copies have boiled; but a carbonado (see Vol. iv. p. 327) was a piece of meat “scotched” and “notched” for broiling, and Pope was right in supposing boiled a misprint.

Note return to page 335 4&lblank; sowle the porter of Rome gates by the ears:] That is, I suppose, says Johnson, drag him down by the ears into the dirt. Souiller, Fr. Heywood, in his “Love's Mistress,” 1636, has this line:— “Venus will sowle me by the ears for this.” The word is still employed in Norfolk, Suffolk, Sussex, and Hants, and it is probably derived from sow, which in Lancashire signifies a head. See Holloway's General Provincial Dictionary, 8vo, 1838.

Note return to page 336 5&lblank; and leave his passage polled.] i. e. bared, taken from polling or baring the head.

Note return to page 337 6&lblank; it's spritely, waking,] In the folios, “waking” is printed walking.

Note return to page 338 7His remedies are tame i' the present peace] There is some defect in this line as it stands in the old copies, in its application to those that follow: we adopt Theobald's trifling emendation, which makes all clear: the folios read, “His remedies are tame, the present peace.” “Tame” is to be taken in the sense of ineffectual, and it was perhaps introduced on account of its direct opposition to “wild” two lines lower.

Note return to page 339 8&lblank; some news is come in,] Steevens tells us that the second folio reads coming for “come in:” all the folios contain the error.

Note return to page 340 9He and Aufidius can no more atone,] i. e. at one or agree. See Vol. iii. p. 96; Vol. iv. p. 118; Vol. v. p. 364.

Note return to page 341 1By sovereignty of nature.] Alluding to the power of fascination formerly attributed to the osprey, and which, as Steevens observes, is thus employed in the play of “The Battle of Alcazar,” 1594, probably by G. Peele:— “I will provide thee of a princely osprey, That as she flieth over fish in pools, The fish shall turn their glistering bellies up, And thou shalt take thy liberal choice of all.”

Note return to page 342 P. 246.&lblank; that have wreck'd for Rome.] In “King Lear,” the last scene, we find a passage in opposition to the statement that rack of old was not usually spelt wrack: it stands thus in the folio, 1623:— &lblank; “he hates him That would upon the wracke of this tough world Stretch him out longer.” It is wracke also in the three quarto impressions of the same tragedy. This, however, is an exception, and there may of course be others, to the general practice.

Note return to page 343 2&lblank; a noble memory!] The meaning of this passage seems to have been hitherto mistaken, and therefore always printed, “A pair of tribunes that have rack'd for Rome, To make coals cheap: A noble memory!” Menenius intends to say that the tribunes have wrecked a noble memory for Rome by occasioning its destruction. Mr. Amyot concurs in this new interpretation. In the old copies it is printed wrack'd, the ordinary orthography of the time for “wreck'd,” and not for rack'd.

Note return to page 344 3In this so never-needed help,] It is strange to see all modern editions, since Capell's, print “never-heeded” for “never-needed,” when the sense so clearly requires the latter, and it is in every old copy.

Note return to page 345 4Bound with an oath to yield to his conditions:] The meaning appears to be, that Coriolanus bound himself by an oath that Rome should yield to his conditions. Various changes of the text have been proposed, but none seems absolutely necessary.

Note return to page 346 5Unless his noble mother, and his wife;] i. e. Except that hope be his noble mother, and his wife.

Note return to page 347 6&lblank; it is lots to blanks,] In other words, “it is everything to nothing,” or, perhaps, prizes to blanks.

Note return to page 348 7Thy general is my lover:] The word “lover” formerly meant any person who had a strong regard for another, and such of course is its sense here. In “The Merchant of Venice,” Vol. ii. p. 532, Portia says of Antonio, that he is “the bosom lover of my lord,” meaning, of course, the bosom friend. It would be easy to multiply instances, but they are needless. Coriolanus afterwards says, p. 252, that Menenius was his belov'd.

Note return to page 349 8Have almost stamp'd the leasing.] “Leasing” is lying. Menenius means, that he has almost given the stamp of truth to what was false. The reference just before is to a bowling ground purposely made uneven.

Note return to page 350 9Do you hear how we are shent &lblank;] “Shent” is reproved, rebuked. See Vol. iii. p. 404. The reference there made to “Troilus and Cressida” is founded on a misprint in the folio, 1623, as is shown in this Vol. p. 55.

Note return to page 351 1I prate,] The old copy, “I pray.” The alteration was by Theobald.

Note return to page 352 2I holp to frame thee.] Old copy, hope. Corrected by Pope.

Note return to page 353 3That's curded &lblank;] Old editions, curdied. The Rev. Mr. Barry would read curdled, considering curdied a misprint.

Note return to page 354 4And yet to charge thy sulphur &lblank;] The old copy has change. The correction was made by Warburton. In Vol. iii. pp. 25 and 154, the reverse error is pointed out, charge having been misprinted for “change.”

Note return to page 355 5He waged me with his countenance,] i. e. He paid me, or remunerated me with his countenance. To “wage,” in this sense, was not in unfrequent use.

Note return to page 356 6No more.] According to Monck Mason, Aufidius does not mean by these words to put a stop to the altercation, but to say that Coriolanus was “no more” than “a boy of tears.”

Note return to page 357 7Flutter'd your Volscians in Corioli:] Malone (Shakespeare by Boswell, vol. xxiv. p. 225) reads “Flutter'd your voices,” and in this remarkable deviation from all the old copies, he is followed in many modern editions: neither does he assign the slightest reason for the alteration. The first and second folio have Flatter'd for “Flutter'd,” an obvious error, but not corrected until the publication of the third folio. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0895

Note return to page 358 8All People.] This is the prefix in the old copies, and it is not only unnecessary, but less forcible, to change it to “Cit. Speaking promiscuously,” as it stands in modern editions. In the same way, All Con., in the preceding line, means all the conspirators, and not “several speaking at once,” as Malone and others give it.

Note return to page 359 The most lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus. As it hath sundry times beene playde by the Right Honourable the Earle of Pembrooke, the Earle of Darbie, the Earle of Sussex, and the Lorde Chamberlaine theyr Seruants. At London, Printed by I. R. for Edward White, and are to bee solde at his shoppe, at the little North doore of Paules, at the signe of the Gun. 1600. 4to. 40 leaves. The most lamentable Tragedie of Titus Andronicus. As it hath sundry times beene plaide by the Kings Maiesties Seruants. London, Printed for Eedward White, and are to be solde at his shoppe, nere the little North dore of Pauls, at the signe of the Gun. 1611. 4to. 40 leaves. In the folio of 1623, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus” occupies twenty-two pages, in the division of “Tragedies,” viz. from p. 31 to p. 52 inclusive. The three later folios, of course, insert it in the same part of the volume.

Note return to page 360 1We consider Ravenscroft's testimony, in his alteration of “Titus Andronicus” (acted about 1678, and printed nine years afterwards) of very little value: in his suppressed Prologue he asserted it to be the unquestionable work of Shakespeare, while in his preface to the printed copy in 1687, he mentions it as a stage-tradition, that Shakespeare only gave “some master-touches to one or two of the principal characters.”

Note return to page 361 2See “The Memoirs of Edward Alleyn,” published by the Shakespeare Society, p. 22. The theatre the Lord Chamberlain's and the Lord Admiral's players jointly occupied, was that at Newington Butts.

Note return to page 362 1A list of persons was first made by Rowe.

Note return to page 363 1Nor wrong mine age &lblank;] i. e. My claim by reason of seniority.

Note return to page 364 2&lblank; so I do affy In thy uprightness &lblank;] To “affy in” is to trust to, to have confidence in: it is used also by Ben Jonson. Shakespeare employs the verb “to affy” in “Henry VI.” part ii. (Vol. v. p. 182), and there it means to betroth.

Note return to page 365 3From where &lblank;] So the quartos, 1600 and 1611: the folio, 1623, “From whence,” a misprint which the sense corrects.

Note return to page 366 4&lblank; Soldiers and People, following.] “As many as can be,” adds the stage-direction of the old copies, quarto and folio.

Note return to page 367 5&lblank; her fraught] All the old copies, his fraught—a frequent error of the press, corrected in the fourth folio.

Note return to page 368 6How many sons hast thou of mine in store,] The folio transposes these words, “hast thou of mine.”

Note return to page 369 7Before this earthy prison &lblank;] The folio has earthly, but the quartos of 1600 and 1611 as in our text.

Note return to page 370 8These are their brethren,] So the quartos: the folio the.

Note return to page 371 9Oppose not Scythia &lblank;] The folio only, “Oppose me Scythia.”

Note return to page 372 10Here grow no damned grudges;] So the quarto, 1611, and the folio: the quarto, 1600, has drugs (spelt drugges) for “grudges.”

Note return to page 373 1&lblank; successfully,] This line is omitted in Malone's Shakespeare by Boswell, but it is found in other modern editions.

Note return to page 374 2&lblank; with thy friends;] The two quartos, and the folios of 1623 and 1632, have friend for “friends,” a trifling correction made in the folio, 1664, and not in the fourth folio, as stated by Malone.

Note return to page 375 3&lblank; Rome's imperial lord:] So the quarto, 1611, and the folio: the quarto, 1600, reads imperious. The words were often used indifferently.

Note return to page 376 4No, Titus, no; the emperor needs her not,] Before this line, in all the old copies, this stage-direction is inserted:—“Enter aloft the Emperor, with Tamora and her two sons, and Aaron the Moore.” The two sons were, of course, Demetrius and Chiron; but why they entered “aloft,” i. e. probably, in the balcony at the back of the stage, we cannot determine. The stage-arrangements in this scene are not easily understood.

Note return to page 377 5Was there none else in Rome to make a stale,] The line stands thus in the three earliest authorities, “Was none in Rome to make a stale,” the words “there” and “else” having been added in the folio, 1632. With reference to the word “stale,” we have a very similar line in “Henry VI.” part iii. Vol. v. p. 295:— “Had he none else to make a stale but me?”

Note return to page 378 6&lblank; empress of Rome.] Here, and in some other places, “empress” is to be pronounced as a trisyllable, and it is so printed in the old copies.

Note return to page 379 7He is not with himself;] The folio omits “with,” and lower down “wise,” before “Laertes' son.” Both words are in both quartos.

Note return to page 380 8&lblank; these dreary dumps,] So the quartos of 1600 and 1611: the folio, “sudden dumps,” which is evidently wrong.

Note return to page 381 9Yes, and will nobly him remunerate.] This line is only in the folios. Malone suspected, with some reason, that it was the answer of Marcus to the question of Titus, and that it ought, therefore, to have the prefix of Marcus.

Note return to page 382 1And so supplant you for ingratitude,] So the first quarto: the second quarto and the folio have us for “you.”

Note return to page 383 2Luc. We do;] This speech has no prefix in the quarto, 1600: in that of 1611 it has All before it; and in the folio, Son; probably Lucius, one of the sons of Andronicus, who spoke for the rest.

Note return to page 384 3Act ii. scene 1.] The folio has here the commencement of what it calls Actus Secunda; but, according to the quartos, Aaron remained on the stage, and the first act continued: the direction in both the oldest copies is “Manet Moor.”

Note return to page 385 4Advanc'd above &lblank;] The folio only, “Advanc'd about.”

Note return to page 386 5Away with slavish weeds, and servile thoughts!] So the quarto, 1600: the quarto, 1611, and the folio, poorly read “idle thoughts.”

Note return to page 387 6this nymph,] The quarto, 1611, and the folio, have queen for “nymph,” the compositor's eye, probably, having caught the word from the preceding line.

Note return to page 388 7Clubs, clubs!] The usual exclamation when a riot occurred in the streets of London. See Vol. v. p. 23 and 603.

Note return to page 389 8&lblank; a dancing-rapier by your side,] So, in Greene's “Quip for an Upstart Courtier,” 1592, as quoted by Steevens: “—one of them carrying his cutting-sword of choller, the other his dancing-rapier of delight.”

Note return to page 390 9It is to jet upon a prince's right?] The folio reads, “It is to set,” &c.; but both the quartos have “jet,” which is doubtless the true word. See Vol. iii. p. 366; and Vol. v. p. 401.

Note return to page 391 1She is a woman, therefore may be woo'd; She is a woman, therefore may be won;] These two lines, with a slight change, are found in “Henry VI.” part i. (Vol. v. p. 91), and the second line is inserted in Robert Greene's “Planetomachia,” 1585. (See Introduction to “Henry VI.” part iii. Vol. v. p. 226.) Ritson inferred that “Henry VI.” part i. and “Titus Andronicus,” might be by the same author, and that author, Greene. The lines in “Henry VI.” part i. stand thus:— “She's beautiful, and therefore to be woo'd; She is a woman, therefore to be won.”

Note return to page 392 2&lblank; to steal a shive,] A “shive” or sheeve (as it is sometimes spelt) is a slice. Warner, in a passage quoted by Steevens from his “Albion's England,” has “A sheeve of bread as brown as nut;” and “It is safe taking a shive of a cut loaf” is a Scotch proverb. The same remark will apply to the allusion just above to the water and the mill.

Note return to page 393 3That both should speed?] In both the quartos, but omitted in the folio, though absolutely necessary to the sense.

Note return to page 394 4A speedier course than lingering languishment] All the old copies, the two quartos, and the four folios, read, “this lingering languishment.”

Note return to page 395 5&lblank; of eyes, and ears:] So the quarto, 1600. The quarto, 1611, and the folio, “of ears.”

Note return to page 396 6&lblank; these fits,] The folio, “their fits,” and, in the preceding line, streams for “stream.” The quartos give the text correctly.

Note return to page 397 7&lblank; the morn is bright and grey,] The quarto, 1600, reads moon for “morn.”

Note return to page 398 8I have been broad awake &lblank;] The folio injuriously omits “broad.”

Note return to page 399 9Unfurnish'd of her well-beseeming troop?] All the old copies, excepting the quarto, 1600, have our for “her.” In the next speech, the quarto, 1600, has “my private steps” for our private steps,” and “thy new-transformed limbs” for “his new-transformed limbs,” of the later impressions. The earliest copy appears to afford the better reading in these instances.

Note return to page 400 1&lblank; your swarth Cimmerian] The two quartos have swarty. Shakespeare uses swart in Vol. iv. p. 40.

Note return to page 401 2Accompanied but with a barbarous Moor,] The folio, following the reading of the quarto, 1611, omits “but;” found in the quarto, 1600.

Note return to page 402 3Why have I patience to endure all this?] So the second folio: the first folio and both the quartos, make it merely an observation, “Why, I have patience,” &c. which may be right. Tamora may say that she has patience, because she knows that her revenge is so near at hand.

Note return to page 403 4&lblank; urchins,] i. e. hedgehogs. The word “urchin” was also used for an evil spirit or fairy. See “The Tempest,” Act i. sc. 2.

Note return to page 404 5&lblank; the honey ye desire,] “The honey we desire,” in all the old copies previous to the folio, 1632.

Note return to page 405 6&lblank; fond woman, let me go.] Here, as in many other places, to which it is unnecessary particularly to refer, “fond” is to be taken in the sense of foolish.

Note return to page 406 7&lblank; the dismall'st object hurt,] So the quarto, 1600: in the quarto, 1611, and all the folios, the word “hurt” is omitted. Three lines lower, the quarto, 1600, has “give” for have of the quarto, 1611, and the folio.

Note return to page 407 8&lblank; how it is;] The later quarto and the folios read “how it is:” the quarto, 1600, “who it is;” but Quintus could not yet know, though he might suspect, that a dead body was in the pit: Martius had told him to look down upon “a fearful sight of blood and death.”

Note return to page 408 9&lblank; the dead man's earthy cheeks,] The quarto, 1600, has “earthy:” the quarto, 1611, and folio, earthly.

Note return to page 409 1&lblank; I left him there.] The quarto, 1600, has them for “him” of the quarto, 1611, and the folio. In the next two lines, the quarto, 1611, has them in the first instance, and him in the second.

Note return to page 410 2&lblank; she can scrowl.] So the quartos, 1600 and 1611: the folio, scowl.

Note return to page 411 3&lblank; lest thou should'st detect him, &c.] All the old copies, “detect them.” Rowe made the correction.

Note return to page 412 4&lblank; three issuing spouts,] Old copies, “their issuing,” &c. Corrected by Sir Thomas Hanmer.

Note return to page 413 5Fair Philomela, she but lost her tongue,] The quarto, 1600, has why before “she,” to the injury of the measure.

Note return to page 414 6A craftier Tereus, cousin, hast thou met,] So the quarto, 1600: the quarto, 1611, omits “cousin,” and the folio, to supply the defect of the measure, adds withal—“A craftier Tereus hast thou met withal.”

Note return to page 415 7For these, these, tribunes, in the dust I write] We follow the reading of the second folio here, where these is repeated, apparently to complete the defective line, and to add to the emphasis of the appeal. Malone seems to have preferred his own emendation, and printed “good tribunes.”

Note return to page 416 8Throwing himself on the ground.] The old stage-direction is, “Andronicus lieth down, and the Judges pass by him.”

Note return to page 417 9&lblank; these two ancient urns,] “Ancient ruins” in the old copies: ruines, as it was then printed, (Mr. Bruce justly remarks) would be an easy typographical error for urnes, as it was then spelt. Sir T. Hanmer made the change.

Note return to page 418 1And bootless unto them.] Our text of this hemistich and of the three preceding lines is that of the quarto, 1600: the quarto, 1611, gives it thus:— “Why, 'tis no matter, man; if they did hear, They would not mark me; or if they did mark, All bootless unto them.” The folio prints it as follows:— “Why, 'tis no matter, man; if they did hear, They would not mark me: O! if they did hear, They would not pity me.” In the next line, “Therefore, I tell my sorrows to the stones,” the quarto, 1611, makes the measure redundant by inserting bootless after “sorrows,” in which it is followed by the folio, 1623, and the later folios.

Note return to page 419 2&lblank; thy aged eyes] “Noble eyes,” quarto, 1611, and folios. Eight lines lower down the folio, 1632, needlessly inserts thy before “Lavinia.”

Note return to page 420 3O! that delightful engine of her thoughts,] In Shakespeare's “Venus and Adonis” we have the following line:— “Once more the engine of her thoughts began.”

Note return to page 421 4&lblank; she knows them innocent.] So the quarto, 1600: other editions read him for “them.”

Note return to page 422 5&lblank; like meadows &lblank;] Old copies, “in meadows.” Corrected by Rowe.

Note return to page 423 6His napkin with his true tears all bewet,] The reading of all the old copies is “her true tears,” but undoubtedly the line ought to run, “His napkin with his true tears all bewet,” and so it stands in Mr. Knight's “Pictorial Shakespere.”

Note return to page 424 7&lblank; as limbo is from bliss.] i. e. the limbus, or limbo patrum. See Vol. v. p. 604.

Note return to page 425 8&lblank; on the enemy's castle?] “It appears (says Steevens) that a ‘castle’ signified a close helmet. See Grose's Treatise of Ancient Armour, p. 12, from whence it appears that ‘castle’ may only be a corruption of the old French word casquetel.” Theobald considered “castle” a misprint for casque; but every old copy has “castle,” and at all events the text is so intelligible as to require no change.

Note return to page 426 9And that you'll say, ere half an hour pass.] Malone, in contradiction to his own theory, that “hour” was often pronounced as a dissyllable, here interpolates can after it, without any authority from the old copies.

Note return to page 427 1&lblank; with possibilities,] Edition 1600 alone reads, “with possibilitie.”

Note return to page 428 2&lblank; do blow!] All the old copies anterior to the second folio read, “do flow.”

Note return to page 429 3Ah! now no more will I control my griefs:] Theobald altered “my” to thy. All the old copies agree in “my.” Marcus first refers to his own abandonment to grief, and then tells Titus to do the same: therefore, no change of the text seems required.

Note return to page 430 4Lavinia, thou shalt be employed in these things;] So the folio, 1623; but we omit “And,” there found at the commencement of the line, on the authority of the folio, 1632. The two quartos have arms for “things:” “things” is certainly a poor word; but it is not perhaps possible to ascertain for what arms was misprinted in the earlier copies.

Note return to page 431 5He leaves, &c.] All the old copies, “He loves.” Corrected by Rowe.

Note return to page 432 6Scene ii.] This scene is not found in the impressions of 1600 or 1611. It was, probably, not an omission in the quartos, but a subsequent addition in the folio. It may have been by a different hand.

Note return to page 433 7And when my heart, &c.] The reading till the time of Rowe was “Who when my heart.”

Note return to page 434 8&lblank; with thy knife?] “Thy” is obtained from the second folio: the first folio omits it. In the next line but two, “are” is also wanting in the first folio.

Note return to page 435 9Tit. Come, take away. &lblank;] In the folio of Lord F. Egerton, this speech has no prefix; but the conjunction “And” was mistakenly put before “Come.” This error is corrected in the Duke of Devonshire's folio.

Note return to page 436 1What book?] This interrogatory is not in the quartos, nor does it seem very necessary; but as we find it in the folio, 1623, we insert it.

Note return to page 437 2Soft! so busily she turns the leaves!] Some modern editors read, “see how busily,” &c.; and others only “how busily.” We adhere to the intelligible text of all the old editions.

Note return to page 438 3&lblank; as with the woful feere,] “Feere” or “fere” is companion, from the Sax. fera: it is used by Chaucer (in his “Troilus and Cressida,” where he speaks of “Orpheus and Eurydice, his fere,”) and by Sir Thomas More for a wife; and by other poets for a husband or wife.

Note return to page 439 4And with a gad of steel &lblank;] Malone informs us that “gad” in Saxon means the point of a spear, but, according to some etymologists, it ought rather to be translated a club. (See Todd's Johnson's Dict.: v. gad.) It is very evident that it here means a steel point, with which Andronicus was to engrave on the “leaf of brass.” Gadda in Icelandic is to prick.

Note return to page 440 5&lblank; that's the news,] This line, preserved in both the quartos, is omitted in the folio. Lower down in the same speech, “that,” necessary to the sense, was left out in all the old copies.

Note return to page 441 6And sends them weapons &lblank;] The quarto, 1600, alone reads, “And sends them weapons:” other editions, “the weapons.”

Note return to page 442 7At such a bay,] So in a sonnet in “The Passionate Pilgrim,” 1599:— “Ah! that I had my lady at this bay.”

Note return to page 443 7Zounds &lblank;] So both the quartos: the folio reads “Oat,” &c. probably to avoid the statute 3 Jac. I. c. 21.

Note return to page 444 8Thou hast undone our mother.] The Rev. Mr. Todd, who found the copy of “Titus Andronicus,” quarto, 1600, in the library at Bridgewater house, informs us that it here reads, “Thou hast undone her.” I have the very copy he used now before me, and find that in this place it runs exactly like the quarto, 1611. The next line is wanting in the folio.

Note return to page 445 9Ye white-lim'd walls!] The old copies all read white-limb'd; but no doubt, as Steevens suggests, we ought to read “white-lim'd.”

Note return to page 446 1&lblank; this ignomy.] All the copies read “ignomy;” and we have already had it used for ignominy, in Vol. ii. p. 45, and Vol. iii. p. 332.

Note return to page 447 2&lblank; fram'd of another leer:] i. e. Of another skin or complexion. See Vol. iii. p. 73.

Note return to page 448 3And, from that womb,] The earliest quarto, that of 1600, alone reads “your womb.”

Note return to page 449 4&lblank; one Muliteus lives,] The word “lives,” wanting in the old copies, was supplied by Rowe. Steevens suspected that Muliteus was a misprint for Muley lives, or rather, Muli lives. This change certainly suits both the sense and the verse, and of the two seems the less violent alteration.

Note return to page 450 5Gopack with him,] Pope understands “pack” as make a bargain; and Steevens says that to “pack” is to contrive insidiously. Shakespeare, in “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” uses “pack” as synonymous with “conspiracy;” and in “The Taming of the Shrew,” Vol. iii. p. 192, Gremio exclaims, “Here's packing with a witness, to deceive us all.”

Note return to page 451 6&lblank; now &lblank;] This syllable, wanting in the quartos and in the first folio, is supplied by the second.

Note return to page 452 7Happily you may catch her in the sea;] So the quarto, 1600: that of 1611 and the folio substitute find for “catch.”

Note return to page 453 4To Saturn, Caius; not to Saturnine;] So Rowe corrected the line, which in the original runs, “To Saturnine, to Caius, not to Saturnine.” Caius seems to be the name of the kinsman Andronicus addresses.

Note return to page 454 5O, well said, Lucius!] Another instance in which “well said” means “well done.” See Vol. iii. p. 39; Vol. iv. p. 330.

Note return to page 455 6Why, there it goes: God give his lordship joy.] The quarto, 1600, has “his lordship:” the quarto, 1611, and the folio, “your lordship.” Some modern editors have asserted, that the quarto, 1611, omits the line altogether. It is found in every copy we have had an opportunity of examining.

Note return to page 456 7&lblank; the tribunal plebs,] “I suppose (observes Steevens) the clown means to say, Plebeian tribune; i. e. tribune of the people.” Sir T. Hanmer conjectured that he meant tribunus plebis.

Note return to page 457 8&lblank; as do &lblank;] These two words, not in any of the old copies, but necessary to the sense, were supplied by Rowe.

Note return to page 458 9But even with law,] So all the old copies, though Steevens asserts that the first folio has “Even with the law,” and that it was corrected in the second folio. Malone printed “Even with the law,” unsupported by any of the ancient authorities.

Note return to page 459 1&lblank; whom, if she sleep,] He in the old copies; but altered by Rowe, both here and in the next line.

Note return to page 460 2Enter Æmilius.] In the old copies he is called “Nuntius Æmilius.”

Note return to page 461 3Even at his father's house, the old Andronicus.] This line has been recovered from the quarto, 1600, where only it is found.

Note return to page 462 4&lblank; successfully,] The old copies, quartos as well as folios, read successantly.

Note return to page 463 5And, as he saith, so say we all with him.] This line, in all the old copies, is made the conclusion of the speech of 1 Goth, erroneously, as is shown in the context. “I humbly thank him,” in the reply of Lucius, refers, of course, to the 1 Goth, who had just spoken.

Note return to page 464 6Get me a ladder.—Lucius, save the child,] In all the old copies, this line is assigned to Aaron, who thereby indicates that he is ready to die, if Lucius will but save the child. In most editions since the time of Theobald, Lucius is made to call for the ladder, and Aaron's speech to begin with “Lucius, save the child.”

Note return to page 465 7&lblank; buried in my death,] The quarto, 1600, reads “buried in my death;” the later editions, “buried by my death.”

Note return to page 466 8An idiot holds his bauble &lblank;] See Vol. iii. p. 295, respecting the bauble of domestic fools and jesters.

Note return to page 467 9Few come within the compass] The folio reads, “Few come within few compass;” and lower down, “the tears” for “their tears.”

Note return to page 468 10Bring down the devil;] Hence we find, not only that the ladder Aaron had called for was brought, but that he ascended it, and made his speeches while standing upon it.

Note return to page 469 1Titus opens his study door.] From what follows it appears that Titus, in fact, came out into the balcony at the back of the stage.

Note return to page 470 2&lblank; action?] Thus the folio. Both the quartos, that accord.

Note return to page 471 3&lblank; on thy foes.] So the quartos: the folio, “on my foes,” and in the preceding line “the mind.”

Note return to page 472 4Provide thee two proper palfries, black as jet,] The quarto, 1611, and the folio, 1623, read “as black as jet;” but we omit as, on the authority of the earliest quarto, and the folio, 1632.

Note return to page 473 5And find out murderers in their guilty caves:] All the old editions (excepting the second folio, which alters cares to “caves”) read, “And find out murder in their guilty cares.” Steevens altered murder to “murderers.”

Note return to page 474 6Even from Hyperion's rising &lblank;] So the second folio: the first read Epton's, and the quartos, “Epeon's rising.”

Note return to page 475 7&lblank; I must ply my theme.] The folio only, “play my theme.”

Note return to page 476 7&lblank; till I turn again.] Malone reads, without authority, “come again;” and lower down he assigns a line to Demetrius, “I know thou dost,” &c., which the sense and all the ancient copies give to Titus.

Note return to page 477 8And stop their mouths, if they begin to cry.] This line is not reprinted in the folio, 1623, though it is found in both the quarto editions: “bind them sure” is only followed by a comma in the folio, showing the omission to have been, in all probability, accidental.

Note return to page 478 9And of the paste a coffin &lblank;] The raised crust of a pie was formerly called the “coffin.” See “Taming of the Shrew,” Vol. iii. p. 178.

Note return to page 479 1&lblank; swallow her own increase.] The folio omits own, necessary to the metre: it is found in both the quartos.

Note return to page 480 2Till he be brought unto the empress' face,] So the quarto, 1600: the quarto, 1611, has emperour's, and the folio, 1623, emperous.

Note return to page 481 3&lblank; break the parle,] That is, says Johnson, begin the parley; but does it not rather mean, “break off your angry parley with the emperor?”

Note return to page 482 4To do this outrage;—and it is now done.] This line is wanting in the folio: both the quartos contain it.

Note return to page 483 5Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself;] Modern editors have sometimes given the four first lines of this speech to a Senator, and the rest of the speech to Marcus. The two quartos assign the whole to a “Roman Lord,” but the folio gives it to a “Goth,” in whose mouth it is very inappropriate. We follow the distribution of the two oldest authorities, correcting Let of the quartos and folios to “Lest,” as the sense obviously requires, and as it stands altered by Southern, in his copy of the fourth folio, the property of Mr. Holgate.

Note return to page 484 6Then, noble auditory,] So the two quartos: the folio reads, erroneously, “This noble auditory.”

Note return to page 485 7I am the turn'd-forth,] The folio omits “the,” found in both quartos.

Note return to page 486 8And, as he is,] Theobald altered this to “Damn'd as he is,” but unnecessarily, and in the face of all the old copies, which contain the words of our text. In the next line, “what course” is properly corrected to “what cause” in the folio, 1685.

Note return to page 487 9Lucius, all hail!] There is no sufficient reason for taking this line and the repetition of it below from the tribune, Marcus, who proclaims Lucius on behalf of the people. It has been usual in modern editions (Mr. Knight's is an exception) to give it to the general body of Romans, but the old copies are uniformly like our text. We are to suppose the auditory to confirm Marcus by their shouts and other demonstrations.

Note return to page 488 1&lblank; give me aim awhile,] The usual meaning of “to give aim,” as Gifford has shown in his Massinger, vol. ii. p. 27, is to direct; but here the expression seems to be intended in the sense of “give me leave awhile.” In a note (p. 57) to the recent reprint of Armin's “Nest of Ninnies,” for the Shakespeare Society, an oversight is committed, when it is said that the phrases, “to cry aim,” and “to give aim,” seem to have been synonymous of old. “To cry aim” meant to encourage, and “to give aim” to direct, though that does not appear to be its meaning in the passage in the text. It is possible that “give me aim” was a misprint for “give me room;” and Lucius afterwards tells those who surrounded him to “stand all aloof.” In “King John,” Vol. iv. p. 24, we have had “to cry aim” in the sense of to encourage.

Note return to page 489 P. 361.&lblank; Give me aim awhile.] So in “Tarlton's Jests,” 1611, Bankes's horse, Maroccus, was supposed to direct his master in the following passage:— “The people had much ado to keep peace, but Bankes and Tarlton had like to have squared, and the horse by to give aim.”

Note return to page 490 2&lblank; thy blood-stain'd face,] All the old copies read blood slaine, an easy misprint for “blood-stain'd;” but the error was not corrected until the third folio. Malone, by mistake, says the fourth.

Note return to page 491 3Do him that kindness, and take leave of him.] The quartos, in both instances in this line, read them for “him.” The folio, 1623, gives it correctly.

Note return to page 492 4Her life was beast-like,] The quartos read beastly for “beast-like” of the folio. In the preceding line the quartos have “birds to prey,” for “birds of prey.”

Note return to page 493 5See justice done on Aaron,] So all the old editions, quarto and folio. Malone prints “to Aaron,” and editors since his time, apparently taking his word for it, have supposed that to be the reading of the folio, without referring to the volume to ascertain the fact. “See justice done to Aaron” is an equivocal expression.

Note return to page 494 An excellent conceited Tragedie of Romeo and Iuliet. As it hath been often (with great applause) plaid publiquely, by the right Honourable the L. of Hunsdon his Seruants. London, Printed by Iohn Danter. 1597. 4to. 39 leaves. The most excellent and lamentable Tragedie, of Romeo and Iuliet. Newly corrected, augmented, and amended: As it hath bene sundry times publiquely acted, by the right Honourable the Lord Chamberlaine his Seruants. London Printed by Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert Burby, and are to be sold at his shop neare the Exchange. 1599. 4to. 46 leaves. The most excellent and Lamentable Tragedie, of Romeo and Juliet. As it hath beene sundrie times publiquely Acted, by the Kings Maiesties Seruants at the Globe. Newly corrected, augmented and amended: London Printed for Iohn Smethwick, and are to be sold at his Shop in Saint Dunstanes Church-yard, in Fleetestreete vnder the Dyall. 1609. 4to. 46 leaves. In the folio of 1623 “The Tragedie of Romeo and Iuliet” occupies twenty-five pages, viz. from p. 53 to p. 79, inclusive, in the division of “Tragedies.” It fills the same space in the folios of 1632, 1664, and 1685.

Note return to page 495 1The Registers of the Stationers' Company throw little light upon the question when “Romeo and Juliet” was first written. On 5 Aug. 1596, Edward White entered “A newe ballad of Romeo and Juliett,” which may possibly have been the tragedy, printed (without a bookseller's name) in 1597, though called only a ballad. On 22 Jan. 1606–7, “Romeo and Juliet” (together with “Love's Labour's Lost” and “The Taming of a Shrew”) was entered to “Mr. Linge,” with consent of “Mr. Burby.” On 19 Nov. 1607, John Smythick entered “Hamlet,” “The Taming of a Shrew,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and “Love's Labour's Lost,” as having derived his property in them from Linge.

Note return to page 496 1There is no list of persons in any of the old copies.

Note return to page 497 1Chorus.] No doubt, as Malone suggested, the insertion of “Chorus” under the word “Prologue,” indicates that it was spoken by the same performer who delivered the chorus at the end of Act i. Malone subjoined the Prologue as it is given in the quarto, 1597, but with just as many variations as lines. It runs literatim thus:— “Two household Frends, alike in dignitie,   (In faire Verona, where we lay our Scene,) From ciuill broyles broke into enmitie,   Whose civill warre makes civill hands vncleane. From forth the fatall loynes of these two foes.   A paire of starre-crost Lovers tooke their life; Whose misaduentures, piteous ouerthrowes,   (Through the continuing of their Fathers strife, And death-markt passage of their Parents' rage,)   Is now the two howres traffique of our Stage. The which if you with patient eares attend,   What here we want, wee'l studie to amend.”

Note return to page 498 2Do, with their death,] The quarto, 1599, “Doth,” &c.; a grammatical error, not corrected in subsequent editions.

Note return to page 499 1&lblank; armed with Swords and Bucklers.] The old copies add the information that they were “of the house of Capulet.”

Note return to page 500 2&lblank; we'll not carry coals.] Numberless authorities might be produced to show that “to carry coals” formerly meant to bear injuries. The quarto, 1597, opens the tragedy thus:— “1. Gregory, of my word, I'll carry no coals. 2. No, for if you do, you should be a collier. 1. If I be in choler, I'll draw. 2. Ever, while you live, draw your neck out of the collar.” The quarto, 1599, omits “the” before “collar:” “the” is twice repeated in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 501 3&lblank; thou run'st away.] This speech is thus given in the quarto, 1597:— “To move is to stir, and to be valiant is to stand to it; therefore (of my word) if thou be mov'd, thou'lt run away.”

Note return to page 502 4&lblank; I will be civil with the maids;] The quarto, 1597, has not the word; but the quartos, 1599 and 1609, together with the folio, 1623, have “civil.” It was perhaps a misprint for cruel, as the undated edition gives it; but Sampson may mean to speak ironically.

Note return to page 503 5They must take it in sense, that feel it.] Here we necessarily resort to the quarto, 1597, for the word “in,” which is omitted in subsequent impressions. In Sampson's reply in the same edition, he asserts, “I am a tall piece of flesh;” but Boswell misinforms us that he says, “I am a ball.” Tall means bold, courageous. See Vol. iii. p. 330; Vol. iv. p. 484, &c.

Note return to page 504 6&lblank; poor John.] Dried and salted hake was frequently so called.

Note return to page 505 7&lblank; two of the house of the Montagues.] So the quarto, 1597: that of 1599, and the subsequent impressions made from it, omit “two.”

Note return to page 506 8&lblank; which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it.] Malone quoted the following passage in point, from Dekker's “Dead Term,” 4to, 1608, where he is adverting to the persons who visited the walks in St. Paul's church:—“What swearing is there, what shouldering, what justling, what jeering, what biting of thumbs to beget quarrels.” In the quarto, 1597, the 1 Serving-man says, “I'll tell thee what I'll do: as I go by I'll bite my thumb, which is disgrace enough, if they suffer it.”

Note return to page 507 9Say—better: here comes one of my master's kinsmen.] The quarto, 1597, reads, “Say ay: here comes my master's kinsman.” It is immediately followed by the subsequent stage-direction, which is all that is there found until the entrance of “the Prince with his Train”—“They draw: to them enters Tybalt. They fight: to them the Prince, old Montague and his Wife; old Capulet and his Wife, and other Citizens, and part them.”

Note return to page 508 1&lblank; remember thy swashing blow.] We have had “swashing” in “As You Like It,” Vol. iii. p. 26, “We'll have a swashing and a martial outside.” Barret in his “Alvearie,” 1580, states that “to swash is to make a noise with swords against targets.” Ben Jonson also, in his “Staple of News,” speaks of “a swashing blow,” which is evidently the right word, though the quartos, 1597, 1599, 1609, and all the folios, have washing. The undated quarto, “swashing.”

Note return to page 509 2What! drawn, and talk of peace?] All the quartos have “drawn:” the folios, draw.

Note return to page 510 3&lblank; one foot &lblank;] So the quartos, including that without a date: the folios, “a foot.”

Note return to page 511 4With purple fountains, &c.] This and the three preceding lines are not in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 512 5Three civil brawls,] So all the quartos: the folio, broils. The quarto, 1597, has not the preceding line.

Note return to page 513 6&lblank; your canker'd hate:] This and the three preceding lines are wanting in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 514 7&lblank; the forfeit of the peace.] “The ransom of your fault,” the quarto, 1597, only; and the next line stands thus in that edition:—“For this time every man depart in peace.”

Note return to page 515 8&lblank; our farther pleasure &lblank;] The quarto, 1609, and the folio, 1623, which was printed from it, “our father's pleasure.” In the next line but one, the quarto, 1597, reads, each man for “all men.”

Note return to page 516 9&lblank; who parted either part.] Only the two first lines of this speech are given in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 517 10&lblank; Peer'd forth &lblank;] So the quartos, 1599, 1609, and the folio. The quarto, 1597, Peep'd through. It gives the next line, “A troubled thought drew me from company.”

Note return to page 518 1Pursu'd my humour,] Our reading of the two preceding lines is that of the quartos, 1599, 1609, and of the folio, which has been generally rejected for that of the quarto, 1597. The plain meaning seems to be, that Benvolio, like Romeo, was indisposed for society, and sought to be most, where most people were not to be found, being one too many, even when by himself. The text, since Pope's time, has usually been that of the quarto, 1597: viz. “I noting his affections by my own, That most are busied when they're most alone, Pursued my humour.” In all the copies, quarto and folio, excepting the quarto, 1599, “humour” is misprinted honour. The last line of this speech, and the first ten lines of the next, are wanting in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 519 2Have you importun'd him by any means?] This and the next speech are first found in the quarto, 1599.

Note return to page 520 3Ah me! sad hours seem long.] “Sad hopes,” quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 521 4&lblank; see pathways to his will!] The quarto, 1597, has this line, “Should without laws give pathways to our will.”

Note return to page 522 5&lblank; well-seeming forms!] The quarto, 1597, “best-seeming things:” the other quartos, and folio, 1623, “well-seeing forms:” the folio, 1632, first corrected it to “well-seeming forms.”

Note return to page 523 6Love is a smoke, made &lblank;] The quarto, 1597, alone reads rais'd for “made.” In the next line but one,it has raging for “nourished.”

Note return to page 524 7An if you leave me so,] The quarto, 1597, “An if you hinder me.”

Note return to page 525 8&lblank; who is that you love.] So the later quartos and the folio: the quarto, 1597, “whom she is you love.” Three lines lower, the quarto, 1597, is to be preferred to other authorities, which read, “A sick man in sadness makes his will.”

Note return to page 526 9I aim'd so near,] “I aim'd so right,” quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 527 10From love's weak childish bow she lives unharm'd.] The quarto, 1597, “'Gainst Cupid's childish bow she lives uncharmed.” The next line but one is not in that edition.

Note return to page 528 11&lblank; with beauty dies her store.] From this line to the end of the scene, and the three first lines of Scene ii, are not in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 529 1But Montague is bound &lblank;] So the quarto, 1599: the quarto, 1609, and the folios omit “But,” which is necessary to the metre.

Note return to page 530 2But now, my lord,] The quarto, 1597, begins the scene with this speech of Paris, in which “you” is twice printed they; and this line commences, But leaving that: Capulet's answer is, “What should I say more than I said before?” &c. There are also other minor variations.

Note return to page 531 3&lblank; so early made.] The quarto, 1597, has married for “made;” which may be right, but all the later authorities read, “made.”

Note return to page 532 4She is the hopeful lady of my earth:] This and the preceding line are not in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 533 5Lies my consent and fair according voice.] This couplet is first found in the quarto, 1599.

Note return to page 534 6Among fresh female buds &lblank;] A strange corruption here crept into the quarto, 1599, and is adopted into the quarto, 1609, and from thence into the folio, 1623: they read, “Among fresh fennel buds,” &c.

Note return to page 535 7Which, on more view of many,] So the quarto, 1599: the quarto, 1597, “Such amongst view of many,” &c.

Note return to page 536 8Find them out, whose names are written here?] The quarto, 1597, adds, “And yet I know not who are written here: I must to the learned to learn of them; that's as much to say, as the tailor must meddle with his last,” &c.

Note return to page 537 9Your plantain leaf is excellent for that.] The plantain was celebrated for medical virtues; and in “Love's Labour's Lost,” Vol. ii. p. 312, Costard calls out for “a plantain,” to cure his broken shin. In “Albumazar,” one of the characters exclaims, “a fresh plantain leaf! I've broke my shin.”

Note return to page 538 1&lblank; crush a cup of wine.] This expression was common. It is met with in many old plays and tracts of the time.

Note return to page 539 2&lblank; in those crystal scales,] The old copies have, that crystal scales. The emendation by Rowe.

Note return to page 540 3&lblank; that now shows best.] “That now seems best” in all editions prior to the quarto, 1609. The folio, 1623, misprints the first part of the line thus:— “And she shew scant shell well,” &c.

Note return to page 541 4&lblank; to my teen &lblank;] i. e. To my sorrow. See Vol. v. p. 541.

Note return to page 542 5For then she could stand alone;] The quarto, 1597, has it, “For then could Juliet stand high lone,” which the quarto, 1599, prints hylone; the quarto, 1609, and the folio, alone. In the next line, for “waddled all about,” the quarto, 1597, reads, “waddled up and down.”

Note return to page 543 6&lblank; took up the child: “Yea,” quoth he,] These words are not in the quarto, 1597. Lower down, “quoth he” is also omitted.

Note return to page 544 7&lblank; it stinted,] i. e. It stopped crying. To stint is frequently used for to stop in writers of the time.

Note return to page 545 8“Wilt thou not, Jule?” it stinted, and said—“Ay.”] This and the preceding eight lines were first inserted in the quarto, 1599. When “Jule” occurs in the text, the quarto, 1597, prints it Juliet.

Note return to page 546 9Peace, I have done.] “Well, go thy ways,” quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 547 1How stands your disposition to be married?] This speech and Juliet's reply are thus given in the quarto, 1597:— “Wife. “And that same marriage, nurse, is the theme I mean to talk of.—Tell me, Juliet, how stand you affected to be married? “Jul. It is an honour that I dream not of.” All the old copies, excepting the quarto, 1597, have hour for “honour,” both here and in the next line.

Note return to page 548 2The valiant Paris seeks you for his love.] In the quarto, 1597, we have only the following for this speech:—“Well, girl, the noble County Paris seeks thee for his wife.”

Note return to page 549 3What say you? can you love the gentleman?] In the quarto, 1597, this line stands as follows:—“Well, Juliet, how like you of Paris' love?” and afterwards all is wanting until we come to Juliet's speech, “I'll look to like,” &c.

Note return to page 550 4Examine every married lineament,] i. e. Every harmoniously united lineament. This is the reading of the quarto, 1599, the oldest authority for this part of the play: the quarto, 1609, and the folio, 1623, have poorly, “Examine every several lineament.”

Note return to page 551 5The fish lives in the sea; &c.] i. e. Is not yet caught. Fish-skin covers to books anciently were not uncommon. Such is Farmer's explanation of this passage.

Note return to page 552 6&lblank; endart mine eye,] “Engage” mine eye,” quarto, 1597, only.

Note return to page 553 7Madam, &c.] Thus in the quarto, 1597:—“Madam, you are called for; supper is ready; the nurse cursed in the pantry; all things in extremity; make haste, for I must be gone to wait.” The two last lines of this scene are not in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 554 8Scaring the ladies like a crow-keeper;] i. e. Like a person appointed to scare crows, who of old was armed with a bow and arrows. See “King Lear,” A.iv.sc. 6. In this speech Shakespeare ridicules the ancient practice of maskers entering with a formal prolix introduction.

Note return to page 555 9Nor no without-book prologue, faintly spoke After the prompter, for our entrance:] This obvious allusion to the stage was omitted after the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 556 1Give me a torch,] The character (says Steevens) which Romeo declares his resolution to assume, will be best explained by a passage in “Westward Hoe,” by Decker and Webster, 1607:—“He is just like a torch-bearer to maskers; he wears good cloathes, and is ranked in good company, but he doth nothing.”

Note return to page 557 2You are a lover, &c.] This and the eleven next lines are not found in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 558 3&lblank; and so bound,] The folio only, “to bound.”

Note return to page 559 4&lblank; doth quote deformities?] i. e. Note or observe deformities. See Vol. iv. p. 74. The next three lines are not in the quarto, 1597, and Romeo's speech begins, “Give me a torch.”

Note return to page 560 5Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels;] Alluding to the rushes with which apartments were anciently strewed, a custom mentioned by nearly all the writers of the time.

Note return to page 561 6Tut! dun's the mouse,] We meet with this expression in many old comic writers; among others, in “Patient Grissill,” by Dekker, Chettle, and Haughton, 1603, (Shakespeare Society's reprint, p. 6,) where Babulo says, “and then this eye opens; yet dun is the mouse—lie still.” It is also elsewhere used as if “dun” were to be understood dumb. The next line, “If thou art dun, we'll draw thee from the mire,” refers to the Christmas gambol of Dun is in the mire, the mode of playing which Gifford explains in a note in Ben Jonson's Works, vol. vii. p. 283. The phrase, “Dun's in the mire,” is often met with: it occurs in “The Woman Hater,” by Beaumont and Fletcher, A. iv. sc. 2 (Dyce's Edition, vol. ii. p. 71); and there was an old tune of that name, mentioned by Taylor the Water-poet, in his “Armada, or Navy of Ships,” 8vo. 1627.

Note return to page 562 7Of this save-reverence love,] The meaning is evident, and it is only necessary to observe, that our text is that of the quarto, 1597, excepting that “save-reverence” is corrupted there to surreverence, as it was perhaps usually pronounced. The quarto, 1599, has it, “Or save you reverence love;” which is followed by the quarto, 1609: the folio, 1623, reads, “Or save your reverence love.”

Note return to page 563 8Come, we burn day-light, ho!] The quarto, 1597, “Leave this talk: we burn day-light here.”

Note return to page 564 9&lblank; I mean, sir, in delay We waste our lights in vain,] The quarto, 1597, “We burn our lights by night.” The folio, 1623, alone adds, “lights, lights, by day.”

Note return to page 565 1&lblank; ere once in our five wits.] No doubt Malone was right in reading “five wits,” for “fine wits,” as it stands in the quartos, 1599 and 1609, as well as in the folio. The quarto, 1597, gives the line thus:—“Three times a day, ere once in her right wits,” so that no aid can be derived from thence.

Note return to page 566 2&lblank; queen Mab hath been with you.] After this line, in the quarto, 1597, Benvolio interrupts Mercutio by asking, “Queen Mab, what's she?” and, as Steevens observed, all Mercutio's speech is there given to Benvolio by the omission of the proper prefix.

Note return to page 567 3&lblank; and she comes] The quarto, 1597, only, “and doth come.”

Note return to page 568 4&lblank; an alderman,] “A burgomaster” in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 569 5&lblank; little atomies] “Little atomi” in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 570 6Over men's noses &lblank;] So the quartos, 1599, 1609, and the folio: the quarto, 1597, only, “Athwart men's noses.”

Note return to page 571 7&lblank; the lash, of film:] This and the two preceding lines stand as follows in the quarto, 1597:— “The traces are the moonshine watery beams, The collar's cricket's bones, the lash of films.” In the next line it has fly for “gnat.”

Note return to page 572 8Prick'd from the lazy finger of a maid.] “Maid” is from the quarto, 1597, all other copies reading man until the folio, 1632, which substitutes woman. The earliest quarto also reads pick'd for “prick'd.”

Note return to page 573 9Time out of mind, &c.] This and the two preceding lines are first found in the quarto, 1599. In the next line the quarto, 1597, reads, up and down for “night by night.”

Note return to page 574 1O'er lawyers' fingers, who straight dream on fees:] This line is not in the quarto, 1597, which, in the preceding line, reads, “who straight on courtsies dream.”

Note return to page 575 2&lblank; o'er a courtier's nose,] “O'er a lawyer's lap” in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 576 3Sometime she driveth o'er a soldier's neck,] “Sometime she gallops o'er a soldier's nose,” quarto, 1597. Two lines lower, for “Spanish blades” of the later editions, the quarto, 1597, has countermines.

Note return to page 577 4&lblank; being thus frighted,] The words are wanting in the quarto, 1597, but are in every later edition.

Note return to page 578 5And bakes the elf-locks &lblank;] “And plaits the elf-locks,” quarto, 1597. The quarto, 1599, and subsequent editions till the folio, 1632, have elk-locks for “elf-locks.” In the next line the quarto, 1597, has breeds for “bodes.”

Note return to page 579 6This, is she &lblank;] The lines respecting maids, &c., are transposed in the quarto, 1597, and, excepting in the omission of the line beginning, “That presses them,” &c., the variations are immaterial. Mercutio's speech in the quarto, 1597, is printed as verse, but in all the later editions, quarto and folio, in prose, until we arrive at the last four lines. The Nurse's speeches, in the preceding scene, are in Italic type, and in prose, in all the quartos.

Note return to page 580 7Mercutio, peace!] Not in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 581 8&lblank; puffs away from thence,] In haste, quarto, 1597. In the next line the quarto, 1597, reads “face” for side of all the later impressions.

Note return to page 582 9By some vile forfeit of untimely death:] So all the old copies, excepting the earliest, which reads, “By some untimely forfeit of vile death.” Two lines lower the quarto, 1597, properly reads, “Directs my sail” for directs my suit of the other quartos and folios.

Note return to page 583 1Strike, drum.] Here the folio adds: “They march about the stage, and serving men come forth with their napkins.” This stage-direction shows that the scene was supposed to be immediately changed to the hall of Capulet's house.

Note return to page 584 2Scene v.] The opening of this scene, until the entrance of Capulet, is not in the quarto, 1597, but in all other editions. The quartos, 1599 and 1609, make Romeo enter before the servants speak. He comes in with the general company.

Note return to page 585 3When good manners shall lie all &lblank;] The folio alone omits “all.”

Note return to page 586 4&lblank; ;remove the court-cupboard,] i. e. a sideboard or buffet for the display of plate, &c., often mentioned by old writers. “Here shall stand my court-cup-board with its furniture of plate.” Chapman's “Monsieur d'Olive,” 1606.

Note return to page 587 5&lblank; ;a piece of marchpane;]Marchpanes, says Steevens, were composed of filberts, almonds, pistachios, pine-kernels, and sugar of roses, with a small proportion of flour. It is supposed to be the same that we now call a macaroon.

Note return to page 588 6&lblank; will have a bout with you: &lblank;] From the quarto, 1597: later editions, “will walk about with you.”

Note return to page 589 7A hall! a hall! give room, and foot it girls.] This and what precedes, from “I have seen the day,” &c. is not in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 590 8How long is't now, since last yourself and I Were in a mask?] So all the quartos and folios, excepting the first, which reads, “How long is it since you and I were in a mask?” In the preceding line, it has “standing days” for “dancing days.” The reply of 2 Cap. there is, “By'r lady, sir, 'tis thirty years at least;” and “What, man!” is wanting in the beginning of the next line.

Note return to page 591 9Will you tell me, &c.] This speech stands thus in the quarto, 1597:— “Will you tell me that? it cannot be so: His son was but a ward three years ago: Good youths, i'faith!—O, youth's a jolly thing!”

Note return to page 592 1It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night] So all the old copies anterior to the second folio, which reads, without any known authority, “Her beauty hangs,” &c. We adhere to the authentic, and perfectly intelligible, text, as contained in every impression during the author's life.

Note return to page 593 2So shows a snowy dove &lblank;] “So shines a snow white swan,” quarto, 1597, only. Lower down it reads, “make happy my rude hand,” for “make blessed,” &c. as it stands in all later copies. Other minor variations in this part of the scene do not require notice.

Note return to page 594 3Content thee, gentle coz,] These words are wanting in the quarto, 1597, but are found in all other impressions.

Note return to page 595 4What! goodman boy!] In all editions subsequent to the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 596 5This trick may chance to scath you;] i. e. To do you injury.

Note return to page 597 6You must contrary me! marry, 'tis time &lblank;] This line is not in the quarto, 1597, as well as “You are a princox; go,” and “What!—Cheerly my hearts,” in the same speech. A “princox” is a coxcomb.

Note return to page 598 7&lblank; with my unworthiest hand] “With my unworthy hand,” quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 599 8&lblank; the gentle fine is this, &lblank;] The old copies read sin for “fine,” an easy misprint when sin was written sinne with a long s. “Sin” scarcely affords sense, while “fine” (which Warburton introduced) has a clear meaning.

Note return to page 600 9&lblank; that pilgrims' hands do touch,] “Which holy palmers touch,” is the reading of the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 601 1Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.] So all the old copies but the first, which has, somewhat unintelligibly, “Saints do not move, though grant nor prayer forsake.”

Note return to page 602 2Madam, your mother craves a word with you.] Instead of this line in the quarto, 1597, we read only, “Madam, your mother calls.”

Note return to page 603 3&lblank; my life is my foe's debt.] The quarto, 1597, gives it as follows: “Is she a Montague? O, dear account! My life is my foe's thrall.” The two next lines are wanting in the same edition.

Note return to page 604 4I thank you, honest gentlemen;] The quarto, 1597, adds, after some unimportant variations, “I promise you, but for your company, I would have been a-bed an hour ago.” These two lines were transferred in all the later editions to a subsequent part of the play, Act iii. sc. 2.

Note return to page 605 5&lblank; wedding bed.] So all the quartos: the folio, 1623, “wedded bed,” but corrected in the folio, 1632.

Note return to page 606 6Enter Chorus.] The chorus is found in all the editions after the first in 1597, but in that it is wanting.

Note return to page 607 7He is wise;] The quarto, 1597, “Dost thou hear? he is wise.”

Note return to page 608 8Nay, I'll conjure too. &lblank;] In all the old copies, quarto and folio, this passage is given to Benvolio—no doubt wrongly.

Note return to page 609 9&lblank; pronounce but—love and dove;] So the quarto, 1597: the quartos, 1599 and 1609, and the folio, 1623, “Provant but love and day:” the folio, 1632, introduced “couply but love and day,” which was followed in the folios, 1664 and 1685.

Note return to page 610 1Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so trim,] The old copies have, “Abraham Cupid,” which Upton judiciously altered to Adam, understanding the reference to be to Adam Bell, the famous archer: “trim” is from the quarto, 1597, other editions reading true. The passage applies to the ballad of “King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid,” before alluded to in “Love's Labour's Lost,” Vol. ii. pp. 297 and 320, and in “Henry IV.,” part 2, Vol. iv. p. 450. We quote the portion particularly in Shakespeare's mind, from the recent reprint of R. Johnson's “Crown Garland,” 1612, by the Percy Society, p. 45:— “The blinded boy, that shootes so trim   From heaven downe so high, He drew a dart, and shot at him   In place where he did lye.” In “Love's Labour's Lost” “The King and the Beggar” is spoken of as then an old ballad—“three ages since.”

Note return to page 611 2He heareth not,] “He hears me not,” quarto, 1597. The rest of this line and the whole of the next are wanting in that edition.

Note return to page 612 3Of some strange nature,] So the later quartos and the folio: that of 1597 has fashion for “nature.”

Note return to page 613 4&lblank; that means not to be found.] This speech, given to Benvolio in the quarto, 1599, and in the later copies with a slight variation, is made the conclusion of that of Mercutio in the quarto, 1597. Above, it has “trundle-bed” for “truckle-bed.”

Note return to page 614 5O, that she knew she were!] This and the preceding line are not in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 615 6&lblank; her eyes in heaven] So the first quarto, with evident propriety: the quartos, 1599 and 1600, and the folio, “her eye.”

Note return to page 616 7That I might touch that cheek!] The quarto, 1597, only, has kiss for “touch.” We may doubt which is preferable, but “touch” seems the more delicate; but in a former scene Romeo had kissed Juliet.

Note return to page 617 8&lblank; the lazy-pacing clouds,] So the quarto, 1597, being a much superior reading to that of the other quartos and folio, which have lazy-puffing. The origin of the corruption possibly was, that in the manuscript, from which the quarto, 1599, was printed, “lazy-pacing” was written lazy-passing, and the compositor misread the two long letters s for a double f.

Note return to page 618 9Thou art thyself though, not a Montague,] This line is first found in the quarto, 1599. It is in all subsequent impressions.

Note return to page 619 1Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O! be some other name.] It is a mistake to say, with some modern editors, that the folio, 1623, omits “O! be some other name:” the folio, 1623, omits “nor any other part,” and the passage (copied from the quartos, 1599 and 1609) there stands thus unintelligibly:— “Nor arm nor face, O be some other name Belonging to a man.” Malone recovered the necessary words, “nor any other part,” from the quarto, 1597, but “O, be some other name” is there omitted. The folio, 1623, instead of printing, with all preceding editions, “What's in a name?” &c. gives “What? in a name's that which we call a rose.”

Note return to page 620 2By any other name &lblank;] All editions, but the first of 1597, read corruptly, “By any other word.”

Note return to page 621 3Retain that dear perfection which he owes,] The quarto, 1597, reads, “Retain the divine perfection he owes;” and in the next line, “part thy name,” for “doff” or “do off thy name.”

Note return to page 622 4Take all myself.] “Take all I have,” in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 623 5Of that tongue's utterance,] So the quarto, 1597: the later quartos and folio, “Of thy tongue's uttering.” In the next line but one, the later quartos and folio read, maid for “saint,” and dislike for “displease.” In these instances the older text would seem to be the best.

Note return to page 624 6&lblank; are no let to me.] i. e. no stop; and such is the word in the quarto, 1599, and later editions. The writers of Shakespeare's time, and long afterwards, used “let” for hinderance.

Note return to page 625 7He lent me counsel,] In the quarto, 1597, “He gave me counsel.” There are other trifling variations in this part of the scene.

Note return to page 626 8&lblank; more cunning &lblank;] So the quarto, 1597: later editions, coying.

Note return to page 627 9Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear,] The folio, 1623, reads, “Lady, by yonder moon I vow, [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0926” omitting “blessed,” which is found in every older copy. The quarto, 1597, has “swear” instead of vow of the later editions.

Note return to page 628 1&lblank; by thy gracious self,] The quarto, 1597, “by thy glorious self.” Lower down it has, “If my true heart's love,” for “If my heart's dear love.”

Note return to page 629 2This bud of love,] The quarto, 1597, reads, “I hear some coming,” and then proceeds to “Dear love, adieu,” &c., just before Juliet's first exit, omitting the intermediate lines.

Note return to page 630 3Too flattering-sweet &lblank;] So all the later copies, and rightly: the quarto, 1597, alone, “Too flattering true:” in the next line, it has “good Romeo” for “dear Romeo.”

Note return to page 631 4&lblank; throughout the world.] From this passage, down to “Love goes toward love,” &c. is not in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 632 5To cease thy strife,] Malone erroneously says that the quarto, 1597, has suit, for “strife” of all the other copies. The quarto, 1597, has no such passage, for the reason explained in the last note.

Note return to page 633 6To lure this tercel-gentle back again!] The tercel is the male of the gosshawk. See this Vol. p. 69. Steevens adds, “This species of hawk had the epithet of gentle annexed to it, from the ease with which it was tamed.”

Note return to page 634 P. 412.&lblank; To lure this tercel-gentle back again.] Steevens probably assigns a wrong reason for calling the male of the goss-hawk “a tercel,” when he tells us, that it is because it is a tierce, or third, less than the female. Turberville, in his Book of Falconry, 1611, explains the true cause in these words:—“He is termed a tyercelet, for that there are most commonly disclosed three birds in one self eyry, two hawks and one tiercel,” p. 60.

Note return to page 635 7And make her airy voice more hoarse than mine] So the quarto, 1597, more fitly than the later copies, which substitute tongue for “voice.” All modern editors read tongue, not observing the variation in the editions. The quartos and folio (with the exception of that of 1597 and the undated quarto) omit “mine” at the end of this line, and “name” at the end of the next.

Note return to page 636 8Like softest music to attending ears!] This line is not in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 637 9My dear!] So the undated copy, which Steevens collated. The first quarto reads, “Madam,” the second and third, “My niece:” the folio, 1623, also has “My niece,” and the folio, 1632, “My sweet,” which was adopted in the later folios. In the next line but one the quarto, 1597, omits “to thee.”

Note return to page 638 1&lblank; parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night, till it be morrow.] In the quarto, 1609, and in the folios, these words are given to Romeo: in the older copies they seem properly made part of Juliet's speech.

Note return to page 639 2Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast! &lblank;] This line is wrongly assigned to Juliet in the quartos, 1599 and 1609, as well as in the folio, 1623. The printers introduced another strange blunder here, by giving to Romeo four lines forming the commencement of the next scene, so that they are printed twice over, almost in juxta-position. The folio, 1632, omits them in the second instance, instead of the first; and the only copy in which the text appears to stand correctly is that of 1597, which we therefore follow.

Note return to page 640 3&lblank; my ghostly father's cell;] So the quarto, 1597: the later editions, “my ghostly friars close cell.” In the next line the quarto, 1597, has “good hap” for “dear hap” of later impressions.

Note return to page 641 4And flecked darkness &lblank;] Flecked is spotted, dappled.

Note return to page 642 5&lblank; and Titan's fiery wheels:] The quarto, 1597, has “fiery wheels” for “burning wheels” of the later copies; and it is to be preferred, as burning occurs in the next line in all the old copies.

Note return to page 643 6The earth, that's nature's mother, is her tomb;] This and the five following lines are not in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 644 7Revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse:] So all the old editions but the first, which reads, “Revolts to vice, and stumbles on abuse.” Just below it has “small flower” for “weak flower” of the later authorities.

Note return to page 645 8Two such opposed kings &lblank;] The editions after the first substitute kings for “foes.”

Note return to page 646 9Good morrow, father!] The quarto, 1597, has a complete line here, which is not wanted, as the hemistich, “Good morrow, father,” is finished by Benedicite: it reads, “Good morrow to my ghostly confessor.” The entrance of Romeo is marked in the old copies eight lines before he speaks: perhaps he was intended to stand back for a time, in order not to interrupt the friar's reflections.

Note return to page 647 1&lblank; sleep doth reign.] “Remains,” quarto, 1597: and in the preceding line, brains for “brain.”

Note return to page 648 2&lblank; and homely in thy drift;] The folio only reads, “rest homely in thy drift”—no doubt a misprint.

Note return to page 649 3Thy old groans ring &lblank;] “Ringing,” quartos, 1599, 1609, and folio.

Note return to page 650 4&lblank; she, whom I love now,] So the quarto, 1597: later editions, “her I love now.” Other minute variations might, if necessary, be pointed out in this part of the scene.

Note return to page 651 5&lblank; they stumble that run fast.] This concluding couplet is not in the earliest quarto.

Note return to page 652 6Where the devil should this Romeo be?] “Why, what's become of Romeo?” in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 653 7&lblank; how he dares, being dared.] “If he be challenged,” quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 654 8&lblank; the very pin of his heart cleft &lblank;] The “pin” was the peg by which the white mark or clout, at which archers shot, was fastened. See “Love's Labour's Lost,” Vol. ii. p. 323, where “clout” is erroneously treated as synonymous with “pin;” they were not exactly synonymous. To “cleave the pin” was a matter of more difficulty, than to hit the clout or white.

Note return to page 655 9More than prince of cats,] Tybalt or Tybert was the name of a cat; and the cat in the old allegory of “Reynard the Fox” was called Tybert. Nash, in his “Have with you to Saffron Walden,” 1596, (not 1598 as the date is given by Steevens,) has the expression, “Tybalt, prince of cats.” The words, “I can tell you,” in the text, are from the quarto, 1597. Lower down, “fantasticoes” is from the same edition, 1597: other impressions read fantasies.

Note return to page 656 1&lblank; these pardonnez-mois,] In the quartos, 1597, 1599, 1609, and the folios, it is printed “pardon-mees,” or “pardons-mees;” but in the undated copy, collated by Steevens, it is “pardona-mees,” and no doubt it was meant for French, as well as bons at the end of the speech, which is printed bones in all the old editions.

Note return to page 657 2&lblank; a French salutation to your French slop.] Slops were loose breeches or trowsers. See Vol. ii. p. 227. The quarto, 1597, has courtesy for “salutation;” and above it has “kitchen-drudge” for “kitchen-wench;” but the variations in this part of the scene are of little importance. Thus below, in the quarto, 1597, Romeo says, “I cry you mercy” instead of “Pardon” of the later copies.

Note return to page 658 3The slip, sir, the slip:] “In our author's time,” says Steevens, “there was a counterfeit piece of money distinguished by the name of a slip.” This statement is capable of proof from many writers of the time.

Note return to page 659 4Thou hast most kindly hit it.] This and the preceding speech are not in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 660 5Well said:] Sure wit in the impressions after the quarto, 1597: the difference is not very material.

Note return to page 661 6&lblank; for my wits fail.] So the quarto, 1597: the quarto, 1609, and the folio after it, my wits faints. Other slight variations occur in the following speeches.

Note return to page 662 7&lblank; a very bitter sweeting;] A bitter sweeting, is an apple of that name.

Note return to page 663 8&lblank; a wit of cheverel,] Cheverel was kid-skin, easily stretched. See Vol. iii. p. 373, and Vol. iv. p. 539.

Note return to page 664 9&lblank; proves thee far and wide abroad—goose.] So the folio, 1623: all older editions have, “proves thee far and wide, a broad goose.”

Note return to page 665 1&lblank; than groaning for love?] In “Love's Labour's Lost,” Vol. ii. p. 338, Biron asks when he had “groaned for love,” not “groaned for Joan,” as it has been hitherto misprinted.

Note return to page 666 2&lblank; now art thou Romeo;] “Now art thou thyself,” quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 667 3&lblank; to hide his bauble &lblank;] See this Vol. p. 346, and Vol. iii. p. 295.

Note return to page 668 4A sail, a sail,] Thus the quarto, 1597. In the later copies these words are erroneously given to Romeo, and the next speech to Mercutio.

Note return to page 669 5&lblank; her fan's the fairer of the two.] We follow the quarto, 1597: the quarto, 1599, and subsequent editions read:— “Nurse. My fan, Peter. Mer. Good Peter, to hide her face? For her fan's the fairer face.” Some modern editors have here adopted the reading of no old copy, but have compounded a text out of several.

Note return to page 670 6&lblank; that God hath made for himself to mar.] “For” is from the quarto, 1597: it is left out in subsequent copies, but the repetition of the words by the Nurse, “for himself to mar,” shows that it had been improperly omitted. Romeo's speech begins in the earliest quarto, “A gentleman, nurse, that God hath made,” &c.

Note return to page 671 7&lblank; I desire some confidence with you.] The quarto, 1597, has conference, all other editions “confidence;” and Benvolio's observation there is, “O! belike she means to invite him to supper.”

Note return to page 672 8&lblank; ere it be spent.] We print this fragment as we find the verse regulated in the earliest quarto: preceding it is the stage-direction, “He walks by them and sings.” Instead of what follows the song in the later copies, Mercutio only says, according to the quarto, 1597, “You'll come to your father's to supper.”

Note return to page 673 1&lblank; lady, lady, lady.] In “Twelfth Night,” Vol. iii. p. 355, Sir Toby sings a snatch of a song, to which “lady, lady,” is the burden. It was a very favourite tune, and Mercutio here probably sang a part of it. The quarto, 1597, gives his speech before his exit with Benvolio thus:—“Farewell, ancient lady; farewell, sweet lady.” “Marry, farewell!” in the Nurse's reply, is from that edition.

Note return to page 674 2&lblank; what saucy merchant was this, that was so full of his ropery?] See Vol. v. p. 38, for instances of the use of the word “merchant” as a term of abuse. “Ropery” is a word found in “The Three Ladies of London,” a play first printed in 1584: it was used in a sense somewhat similar to roguery. The quarto, 1597, prints it roperipe. Churchyard, in his “Choice,” (Sign. Cc iii.) uses roperipe as an adjective:—“But gallows lucke and roperipe happe.”

Note return to page 675 3An 'a speak any thing &lblank;] “If he stand,” quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 676 4&lblank; I am none of his skains-mates.] Possibly, as Malone suggests, “skains-mates” means knife-companions, or cut-throat companions, from skain or skene, a knife or short dagger. Skene is used by many writers of the time. R. Armin, in his “Nest of Ninnies,” 1608, (reprinted by the Shakespeare Society,) has this passage, “If I do stick in the bogs, help me out—not with your good skene head men.” I skene seems to have been especially used by the Irish.

Note return to page 677 5I protest unto thee,] “Tell her, I protest,” in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 678 6&lblank; thou dost not mark me.] These words are not found in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 679 7And there she shall at friar Laurence' cell] The quarto, 1597, gives the first two lines of Romeo's speech as follows:— “Bid her get leave to-morrow morning To come to shrift at friar Laurence' cell:” after which that edition breaks off until the line, “And stay, good nurse, behind the abbey wall.” It places Romeo's reward to the Nurse afterwards, near the end of the scene.

Note return to page 680 8Must be my convoy &lblank;] Conduct, quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 681 9Now, God in heaven bless thee!] From hence to the words, “Commend me to thy lady,” is not in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 682 1I warrant thee;] I, which is not in the quartos or first folio, was supplied by the editor of the second folio.

Note return to page 683 2Ah, mocker! that's the dog's name. R is for thee? no:] The meaning of this passage seems to have been hitherto mistaken, owing to “thee” in the old copies (as was often the case) having been misprinted the: it there runs thus, “R is for the no.” The Nurse means to ask, “how can R, which is the dog's name, be for thee?” And she answers herself, “no: I know Romeo begins with some other letter.” The modern text, at the suggestion of Tyrwhitt, has usually been, “R is for the dog. No; I know,” &c., but no change is necessary beyond the mere alteration of the to “thee.” It is singular that this trifling change should not have been suggested before.

Note return to page 684 3Peter, take my fan, and go before.] Thus the first quarto. The subsequent ancient copies, instead of these words, have “Before, and apace.”

Note return to page 685 4O! she is lame: love's heralds should be thoughts,] The quarto, 1597, reads lazy, for “lame” of the later editions; and in that copy the thirteen next lines are wanting. Throughout this scene the variations are so considerable, that it is impossible to point them out in detail. The quarto, 1597, follows up the line above quoted thus:— “And run more swift, than hasty powder fir'd Doth hurry from the fearful cannon's mouth. O! now she comes. Tell me, gentle nurse, What says my love.” What succeeds in the later editions is not in the quarto, 1597, until we come to “I am weary,” and then it is inserted with much greater brevity.

Note return to page 686 5But old folks, many feign as they were dead;] Mr. Bruce suggests to me, with great appearance of truth, that we should here read “many,” marry; “But old folks, marry, feign as they were dead.” As the old copies are, however, uniform, and intelligible, we feel bound to adhere to their text.

Note return to page 687 6Come, what says Romeo?] For this short question in the later editions, the quarto, 1597, has the following:— “Nay stay, sweet nurse; I do entreat thee, now, What says my love, my lord, my Romeo!” In other cases the older text is abridged.

Note return to page 688 7Scene vi.] This scene, as Steevens remarks, was “entirely new formed” in the quarto, 1599. When Juliet arrives, the stage-direction in the quarto, 1597, is, “Enter Juliet somewhat fast, and embraceth Romeo.”

Note return to page 689 8&lblank; else are his thanks too much.] The quartos, 1599 and 1609, have is for “are,” while the folio reads in.

Note return to page 690 9I cannot sum up half my sum of wealth.] The quartos of 1599 and 1609 read, “I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth,” and the folio converts the last sum into some. The alteration of Steevens is, probably, what the author wrote, which the transcriber or printer confused. Modern editors have adopted this amended line as if it were the genuine reading of the folio, 1623.

Note return to page 691 1&lblank; is the mad blood stirring.] This and the preceding line are not in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 692 2&lblank; for one would kill the other.] These words are not in the quarto, 1597, and the whole speech is elsewhere much abbreviated.

Note return to page 693 3The fee-simple? O simple!] This, and the speech to which it is a reply are not in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 694 4Consort! what! dost thou make us minstrels?] In the quarto, 1597, it is “Consort! zwounds! consort! the slave will make fidlers of us.” After this speech the rest of the scene is there omitted, until the entrance of Romeo.

Note return to page 695 5&lblank; the hate I bear thee,] So the quarto, 1597. The subsequent copies have, “the love,” &c.

Note return to page 696 6To such a greeting: &lblank;] In the quarto, 1597, “Tybalt, the love I bear thee doth excuse the appertaining rage to such a word.” The other variations here are less important.

Note return to page 697 7&lblank; your sword out of his pilcher by the ears?] So all the later editions but the first, which has scabbard, thereby explaining what was meant by “pilcher.” A pilch is a covering of leather, as appears by Nash's “Pierce Penniless,” 1592, Sign. B., and several other examples; but no other instance has been adduced of the use of the word “pilcher.”

Note return to page 698 8I am for you.] In the quarto, 1597, we have nothing more till after the exit of Tybalt, the following stage-direction being substituted, “Tybalt, under Romeo's arm, thrusts Mercutio in, and flies.”

Note return to page 699 9&lblank; as a church-door;] “As a barn door,” quarto, 1597, where Mercutio's speech is shorter.

Note return to page 700 1'Zounds! a dog, a rat, a mouse,] So the quartos, 1599 and 1609: the folio, “What! a dog,” &c. The quarto, 1597, has not the passage, but it gives the conclusion of Mercutio's speech, and what follows it, thus:—“A pox of your houses! I shall be fairly mounted upon four men's shoulders, for your house of the Montagues and the Capulets; and then some peasantly rogue, some sexton, some base slave, shall write my epitaph, that Tybalt came and broke the prince's laws, and Mercutio was slaine for the first and second cause. Where's the surgeon? Boy. He's come, sir. Mer. Now will he keep a mumbling in my guts on the other side. Come, Benvolio; lend me thy hand. A pox of your houses!” This was omitted in the later impressions.

Note return to page 701 2Hath been my cousin;—O sweet Juliet!] The quarto, 1597, has kinsman for “cousin,” and omits “sweet.” Five lines lower it reads scorn'd the lowly earth, for “here did scorn the earth.”

Note return to page 702 3Alive! in triumph!] These words are from the quarto, 1597. All the other copies read, “He gone in triumph.”

Note return to page 703 4And fire-ey'd fury &lblank;] So the quarto, 1597. The quarto, 1599, and later copies read, poorly, “And fire and fury.”

Note return to page 704 5&lblank; must go with him.] The quarto, 1597, gives the three last lines thus:— “Is but a little way above the clouds, And stays for thine to bear him company. Or thou, or I, or both, shall follow him.” The next two speeches are omitted, Benvolio's entreaty to Romeo is shortened, and Romeo makes his exit with, “Ah! I am fortune's slave.”

Note return to page 705 6&lblank; the blood is spill'd] This line is from the quarto, 1599, which is followed by the quarto, 1609, and the folio. The quarto, 1597, reads, “Unhappy sight! ah! the blood is spill'd.” This line is deficient, and that in our text redundant.

Note return to page 706 7Benvolio, who began this bloody fray?] So the quartos, 1599 and 1609; but the folio, 1623, accidentally omitted “bloody,” and the deficiency was not supplied in the later folios. The quarto, 1597, reads, “Speak, Benvolio, who began this fray?”

Note return to page 707 8How nice the quarrel was;] i. e. how trifling, how slight. See Vol. iv. p. 348, and Vol. v. p. 434. The rest of the speech differs materially in the quarto, 1597, and in the later impressions.

Note return to page 708 1His agile arm &lblank;] So the quarto, 1597. The quartos, 1599 and 1600, and the folio, 1623, read, “His aged arm,” which the folio, 1632, corrected to “His able arm.” It therefore stands “able arm” in the folios, 1664 and 1685. See the “Introduction.”

Note return to page 709 2Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio;] This and the three following lines have no place in the quarto, 1597, which, besides minor variations which we need not particularly specify, omits, “Affection makes him false, he speaks not true,” in the preceding speech.

Note return to page 710 3&lblank; in your hate's proceeding,] All the editions but the first read corruptly, “in your heart's proceeding.”

Note return to page 711 4Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.] So the quartos, 1599 and 1609: the folio, 1623, “Mercy not murders,” &c. The quarto, 1597, omits two lines, and concludes as follows:— “Pity shall dwell, and govern with us still: Mercy to all but murderers, pardoning none that kill.”

Note return to page 712 5Towards Phœbus' mansion;] “Mansion” is from the quarto, 1597: the later quartos and folio substitute lodging.

Note return to page 713 6And bring in cloudy night immediately. &lblank;] No more of Juliet's soliloquy is contained in the quarto, 1597; and this and the previous line there stand:— “As Phaeton would quickly bring you hither, And send in cloudy night immediately.”

Note return to page 714 7That, unawares, eyes may wink,] Every old copy has, “That run-aways eyes may wink. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0933” Zachary Jackson, in his “Shakspeare's Genius Justified,” 8vo, 1819, p. 421, has shown that run-aways was, in all probability, a misprint for “unawares.” The meaning will therefore be, as he suggests, “that eyes may be closed in sleep unawares.”

Note return to page 715 8Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks,] These are terms of falconry. An unmanned hawk, says Steevens, is one that is not brought to endure company. Bating, is fluttering with the wings as striving to fly away. See Vol. iv. p. 306 and 522.

Note return to page 716 9&lblank; grown bold,] Rowe's emendation. All the old copies for grown have grow. The change was scarcely necessary.

Note return to page 717 1Whiter than new snow upon a raven's back.] The second folio, for the sake of the metre, substitutes on for “upon,” and the undated quarto, which Steevens collated with that of 1609, omits “new,” perhaps for the same reason. The quartos, 1599 and 1609, as well as the folio, 1623, have the line as it stands in our text.

Note return to page 718 2&lblank; when he shall die.] This emendation is from the undated quarto. The quartos of 1599, 1609, and the folio, read, “when I shall die.”

Note return to page 719 3Enter Nurse, with Cords.] The stage-direction in the quarto, 1597, is this:—“Enter Nurse wringing her hands, with the ladder of cords in her lap.” The whole scene was much altered and enlarged, as it appears in the quarto, 1599: there the stage-direction is only, “Enter Nurse, with Cords.”

Note return to page 720 4&lblank; say thou but I,] The affirmative ay was, in Shakespeare's time, almost invariably spelt with a capital, I; and “that bare vowel” it is obviously necessary to retain here.

Note return to page 721 5Or those eyes shut,] All the quartos and all the folios have shot for “shut” in this place.

Note return to page 722 6God save the mark!] “God save the sample,” edition 1597. The scenes in this portion of the tragedy so differ in the earliest and later copies, that it is impossible, as in some previous cases, to carry on any exact comparison. We may, however, mention, that three lines below the quarto, 1597, reads “swounded,” (for swooned) which is at this day the vulgar pronunciation of the word. Later editions have sounded.

Note return to page 723 7My dear-lov'd cousin, and my dearer lord?] So the quarto, 1597: the other impressions, “My dearest cousin, and my dearer lord?”

Note return to page 724 8O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face!] The quarto, 1597, is the only edition which distributes these speeches rightly. In the folio, this line is assigned to the Nurse, and the preceding line to Juliet. The quarto, 1597, however, reads, “O serpent's hate,” &c., which may be right.

Note return to page 725 9Dove-feather'd raven! wolvish-ravening lamb!] The line is not in the quarto, 1597. The folio has “ravenous” before “dove-feather'd,” which Theobald properly rejected.

Note return to page 726 1A damned saint,] So the undated quarto, according to the collation of Steevens, now before us, and the folio, 1632. All the earlier editions, “A dim saint.” In the next line but one, all the copies, excepting the undated quarto, have “bower the spirit,” but that has “pour the spirit.” It may, perhaps, be doubted which reading ought to be preferred.

Note return to page 727 2Which modern lamentation &lblank;] i. e. Common lamentation. Shakespeare frequently uses the word in this sense. See Vol. iii. p. 44. 238. 309; and Vol. iv. p. 56.

Note return to page 728 3calling death—banishment,] This reading is from the quarto, 1597: all the others have, with the folio, banished for “banishment.” This scene is not so much altered in the later impressions as some others.

Note return to page 729 4This is dear mercy,] The quarto, 1597, has “This is mere mercy.” In the first line of this speech, instead of “O, deadly sin!” it reads, “O, monstrous sin!”

Note return to page 730 5&lblank; of dear Juliet's hand,] The quarto, 1597, “of fair Juliet's skin;” and in the next line, kisses for “blessing.”

Note return to page 731 6They are free men, but I am banished.] In printing this and the four preceding lines we follow the editions of 1599 and 1609. In the folio the empassioned repetition of “Flies may do this, but I from this must fly,” was, it should seem, not allowed for, and that and the following line were, therefore, as we think, unnecessarily omitted.

Note return to page 732 7&lblank; to kill me; banished?] This and the two lines before it stand somewhat differently in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 733 8Thou fond mad man, hear me but speak a word.] So the quarto, 1597. The quartos, 1599 and 1609, read, “Then fond mad man, hear me a little speak.” The folio, “Then fond mad man, hear me speak.” “Fond” is, of course, here, as in many other places, foolish.

Note return to page 734 9How should they, when that wise men have no eyes?] So the quartos, 1597 and 1599. The quarto, 1609, to the injury of the metre, omits “that,” and this defect was transplanted into the folio. In the next line, the folio introduced a corruption of its own, by printing “dispute” despair: two lines lower, it reads, “Juliet my love,” for “Juliet thy love” of all the anterior editions.

Note return to page 735 1Arise; one knocks:] From this point, till the entrance of the Nurse, the quarto, 1597, gives what is said imperfectly and briefly. “What wilfulness is this!” lower down is, however, from that edition. “What simpleness is this!” is the reading of the two later quartos and the folio.

Note return to page 736 2&lblank; O woeful sympathy! Piteous predicament!] At the suggestion of Farmer, this passage has been taken from the Nurse, and assigned, as an interposition, to the Friar. We think him right, and that the language indicates the fitness of the change; but so important a correction ought, of course, not to be introduced without notice that it is a deviation from all the copies, quarto and folio.

Note return to page 737 3&lblank; to our cancell'd love?] Thus all the quarto impressions: the folio, 1623, repeats conceal'd, and is followed by the three later folios.

Note return to page 738 4&lblank; and then starts up,] For these two lines the quarto, 1597, reads:— “O! she saith nothing, but weeps and pules, And now falls on her bed, now on the ground.” It omits the hemistich with which the speech concludes.

Note return to page 739 5Drawing his sword.] In quarto, 1597, the stage-direction is: “He offers to stab himself, and Nurse snatches the dagger away.” The other quartos and the folio have no stage-direction here.

Note return to page 740 6By doing damned hate upon thyself?] This line, and the sixteen lines following it, are not in the quarto, 1597. The folio has the previous line imperfectly thus:— “And slay thy lady, that in thy life lies;” which error it copied from the quarto, 1609, and that from the quarto, 1599. At the end of the sixteen lines, the quarto, 1597, proceeds: “Rouse up thy spirits: thy lady Juliet lives,” &c.

Note return to page 741 7&lblank; there art thou happy too:] Thus the quarto, 1597. In the subsequent quartos and in the folio too is omitted: the reading of the second folio is that of the first quarto. The next two lines are not in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 742 8Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love.] In the line preceding the above, the quartos, 1599 and 1600, read mishaved, and the folio mishaped: the true word, “misbehaved,” is in the quarto, 1597. In the above line, the correct reading, “pout'st upon,” is found in the undated quarto. The earliest quarto has “frown'st upon,” and the folio, puttest up, which is evidently wrong.

Note return to page 743 9Than thou went'st forth in lamentation. &lblank;] This and the four preceding lines are not in the earliest quarto. The three next lines are slightly changed; and “Romeo is coming” is wanting. The rest of the scene is altered, and the three first lines of the Friar's last speech are only in the impressions subsequent to the first.

Note return to page 744 1&lblank; commend me to your daughter.] Here the quarto, 1597, adds the following stage-direction:—“Paris offers to go in, and Capulet calls him again.” In the later editions it was needless, as Lady Capulet added the two lines preceding her husband's offer; which, as well as the rest of the scene in the quarto, 1599, is considerably lengthened and varied.

Note return to page 745 2Afore me! it is so very late,] “Very” is from the quartos, 1599 and 1609: it is omitted in the folio.

Note return to page 746 3Enter Romeo and Juliet.] The stage-direction in the first edition is:— “Enter Romeo and Juliet, at the window.” In the later editions, “Enter Romeo and Juliet aloft.” They appeared, probably, as Malone remarks, in the balcony at the back of the stage.

Note return to page 747 4Therefore, stay yet; thou need'st not to be gone.] The quarto, 1597, reads, “Then, stay awhile; thou shalt not go soon.”

Note return to page 748 5&lblank; so thou wilt have it so.] These two lines in the first edition stand thus:— “Let me stay here; let me be ta'en and die: If thou wilt have it so, I am content.” The early copies differ in other minor respects.

Note return to page 749 6Hunting thee hence with hunts-up to the day.] The “hunts-up was the name of the tune played to wake the hunters, and collect them together. It was also used for any morning song. See Chappell's “National English Airs,” vol. ii. p. 147, where all that is known on the subject is collected. “The hunt is up” was an expression of the chase, as appears by the following from A. Munday's “Two Italian Gentlemen,” printed about 1584:— &lblank; “The hunt is up, And fooles be fledgde before the perfect day.”

Note return to page 750 P. 453.&lblank; Hunting thee hence with hunts-up to the day.] A song of “The hunt is up” was known as early as 28 Henry VIII., when information was sent to the council against one John Hogon, who, “with a crowd or a fyddyll,” sung a song to the tune, which certainly had a political allusion. Some of the words are given in the information:— “The hunt is up, the hunt is up, &c. The Masters of Arte and Doctours of dyvynyte Have brought this realme ought of good unyte. Thre nobyll men have take this to stay My Lord of Norff. Lorde of Surrey And my Lorde of Shrewsbyrry; The Duke of Suff. myght have made Inglond mery.” Neither much meaning nor much measure is to be made out of the song: the words were taken down from recitation, and are not given as verse. The original document, under the hands and seals of four witnesses, is preserved in the Rolls-chapel, where Mr. W. H. Black was kind enough to show it to us.

Note return to page 751 7Enter Nurse.] In the oldest edition, the quarto of 1597, Romeo “goeth down” before the arrival of the Nurse, who does not enter until after the final departure of Romeo. The latter part of this scene is much enlarged and improved. This part of the play, in the quarto, 1597, reads as if it had been made up from notes, not printed from an authentic copy: our text, here as elsewhere, is that of the quarto, 1599.

Note return to page 752 8Ere I again behold my Romeo.] The quarto, 1597, prosaically, “Ere I see thee again.” Lower down, for “I doubt it not” of the later impressions, the earliest has “No doubt, no doubt.”

Note return to page 753 9O fortune, fortune!] From hence to the entrance of Lady Capulet is wanting in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 754 1&lblank; procures her hither?] So the quarto, 1599, the undated quarto, and the folio: the quarto, 1609, has either for “hither.”

Note return to page 755 2What! wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears!] The quarto, 1597, “I think, thou'lt wash him,” &c., and the rest of the speech is there wanting. The scene was subsequently much lengthened and altered.

Note return to page 756 3God pardon him!] “Him” was not inserted until the folio, 1632. The line is not in the first edition of the tragedy.

Note return to page 757 4That is, because the traitor murderer lives.] So the quarto, 1599, (the line is not in the quarto, 1597) but the quarto, 1609, having omitted “murderer,” the folio reprinted the line, defective as it was.

Note return to page 758 5Shall give him such an unaccustom'd dram,] Instead of this line, the quarto, 1597, has, “That should bestow on him so sure a draught.” Malone unwarrantably altered should to shall, and substituted the line for that of the text of the quarto, 1599, and the later impressions.

Note return to page 759 6&lblank; my cousin Tybalt] The last word of this line, which is not in the older copies, but is obviously necessary to the measure, was added by the editor of the second folio.

Note return to page 760 7What are they, I beseech your ladyship?] The pronoun I is from the undated quarto, according to the collation of Steevens. It is also in the folio, 1632, but not in earlier editions.

Note return to page 761 8&lblank; what day is that?] So the quartos: the folio, “What day is this?”

Note return to page 762 8&lblank; the earth doth drizzle dew;] Malone says that the undated quarto has air for “earth.” Such does not appear to be the case, according to Steevens's collation of it with the quarto, 1609; and certainly every other ancient copy has “earth,” which Malone fully justifies (though he prints air) by the following line from Shakespeare's “Lucrece,” “But as the earth doth weep, the sun being set.”

Note return to page 763 10&lblank; of what I hate;] So all the quartos: the folio, have.

Note return to page 764 1&lblank; how now, chop-logic!] The quarto, 1597, gives the true word; all the others read, “chopt logic.” The variations are numerous in this scene.

Note return to page 765 2And yet not proud;—mistress minion you,] This line was omitted in the folio, no doubt accidentally, as it is found in the quarto, 1609, from which the folio was printed, as well as in the quarto, 1599.

Note return to page 766 3Out on her, hilding!] For an explanation of “hilding,” see Vol. iii. p. 138; and for instances of its employment by Shakespeare, Vol. iii. p. 268; and Vol. iv. p. 345.

Note return to page 767 4O! God ye good den.] i. e. God give you good even or day: they were confounded, because even began immediately after noon. In all the old copies but the earliest, this is made part of the Nurse's speech, with the word “Father” (not as a prefix) before it. It doubtless belongs to old Capulet.

Note return to page 768 5God's bread! &c.] The quarto, 1597, reads, “God's blessed mother, wife, it mads me, Day, night, early, late, at home, abroad, Alone, in company, waking or sleeping, Still my care hath been to see her match'd.”

Note return to page 769 6&lblank; youthful, and nobly train'd,] “Train'd” is from the quarto, 1597: the quarto, 1599, has liand; and the quarto, 1609, which the folio followed, allied.

Note return to page 770 7Proportion'd as one's thought would wish a man,] So the folio, and the quartos, 1599 and 1609, as well as the undated quarto. Modern editors read, “as one's heart could wish a man,” fron the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 771 8Some comfort, nurse.] The enlargements and alterations of this scene in subsequent editions may be judged of by the fact, that the quarto, 1597, for this passionate speech, has only a single line:— “Ah Nurse! what comfort, what counsel canst thou give me?” Boswell (Malone's Shakspeare, 8vo. 1821. vol. vi. p. 177) misquotes this line, as it stands in the earliest edition. This also is one of the parts of the impression of 1597, which reads as if it had been made up from imperfect notes.

Note return to page 772 9Ancient damnation!] Before this speech (which, with one or two slight variations, such as cursed for “wicked,” is the same in the first and subsequent editions) in the quarto, 1597, we have a stage-direction, which may give a hint how Shakespeare intended this portion of the scene to be acted: it is, “She looks after Nurse,” watching her, probably, until out of hearing.

Note return to page 773 10And I am nothing slow, to slack his haste.] The quarto, 1597, “And I am nothing slack to slow his haste.”

Note return to page 774 1&lblank; her father counts it dangerous,] The quarto, 1597, thinks.

Note return to page 775 2Happily met, my lady, and my wife!] The quarto, 1597, “Welcome, my love, my lady and my wife.”

Note return to page 776 3&lblank; past hope, past cure, past help!] The quartos, 1599 and 1609, and the folio, have “past care” for “past cure,” which last is evidently the right word, not merely by the sense, but because the quarto, 1597, gives the line thus:— “Come weep with me, that am past cure, past help.” To this point in the scene, the variations between the copies have not been very important. The additions hereafter are considerable. The second line of the Friar's speech is wanting in the earliest edition, as well as the nine lines following the first couplet of that of Juliet.

Note return to page 777 4&lblank; to scape from it;] “To fly from blame,” quarto, 1597. In the next line it preferably reads “yonder tower,” for “any tower” of the quartos, 1599 and 1609, and the folio.

Note return to page 778 5&lblank; chain me with roaring bears;] The quarto, 1597, here reads, “Or chain me to some steepy mountain's top, Where roaring bears and savage lions are.”

Note return to page 779 6&lblank; in his shroud;] So the undated quarto, according to the collation of Steevens. The quarto, 1597, has “Or lay me in a tomb with one new dead.” The quartos, 1599 and 1609, read, “Or hide me with a dead man in his,” leaving the sense incomplete. The folio, 1623, supplied a wrong word, by adding “grave,” which occurs at the end of the preceding line. “Shroud” was doubtless Shakespeare's word.

Note return to page 780 7To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love.] The quarto, 1597, has, “To keep myself a faithful unstain'd wife To my dear lord, my dearest Romeo.”

Note return to page 781 8A cold and drowsy humour, for no pulse Shall keep his native progress, but surcease:] The quarto, 1597, reads, “A dull and heavy slumber, which shall seize Each vital spirit; for no pulse shall keepe His natural progress, but surcease to beat.” This may, on some accounts, seem preferable; but the whole speech is in a much abridged form in the earliest edition, occupying only fourteen lines.

Note return to page 782 8To paly ashes;] So the undated quarto: all the other copies (prior to the folio, 1632, which has “mealy ashes”) read, “many ashes.”

Note return to page 783 1&lblank; appear like death:] This and the four preceding lines are not in the quarto, 1597, which afterwards ends the scene in four lines: the last of them, as there printed, is, “Friar, I go: be sure thou send for my dear Romeo.”

Note return to page 784 2&lblank; and he and I Will watch thy waking,] These words were omitted in the folio, no doubt accidentally, as they are found in the quarto, 1609, from which it was printed, as well as in the quarto, 1599. Editors who have professed to adhere to the text of the folio, 1623, and who have rejected other passages because not there found, have not hesitated to insert the above words, and without any notice of the imperfectness of the text of the folio.

Note return to page 785 3&lblank; O! tell me not of fear.] The folio only has care for “fear.”

Note return to page 786 4Of disobedient opposition] “Of froward wilful opposition,” quarto, 1597. Much is added and altered in this scene in the impressions after the first, where Juliet's speech ends thus:— &lblank; “to fall prostrate here And crave remission of so foul a fact.”

Note return to page 787 5&lblank; there is time enough.] In the quarto, 1597, Lady Capulet says:— “I pr'ythee do, good nurse, go in with her; Help her to sort her tires, rebatoes, chains, And I will come unto you presently.”

Note return to page 788 6Ay, those attires are best:] Instead of this speech, the quarto, 1597, supplies the following dialogue:— “Nurse. Come, come; what need you any thing else? “Juliet. Nothing, good nurse, but leave me to myself. For I do mean to lie alone to-night. “Nurse. Well, there's a clean smock under your pillow, and so good night.” Steevens, quoting the above, omits an entire line.

Note return to page 789 7Farewell!—God knows when we shall meet again.] After this line, the quarto, 1597, adds, “Ah! I do take a fearful thing in hand, What if this potion should not work at all?” &c. In the first edition, this speech consists of only eighteen lines: the additions, therefore, in the quarto, 1599, are large and numerous. We have, as usual, followed that text.

Note return to page 790 8&lblank; the heat of life:] The folio, “the heat of fire,” in opposition to the quartos, 1599 and 1609. The passage is not in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 791 9&lblank; lie thou there.] In the quarto, 1597, these two lines thus stand:— “Must I of force be married to the County? This shall forbid it: knife, lie thou there.” “Daggers, or, as they are commonly called, knives, (says Gifford, Ben Jonson's Works, vol. v. p. 221), were worn at all times by every woman in England— whether they were so in Italy, Shakespeare, I believe, never inquired, and I cannot tell.”

Note return to page 792 10I will not entertain so bad a thought. &lblank;] This line is only in the quarto, 1597: it seems necessary to the completeness of the rejection of Juliet's suspicion of the Friar.

Note return to page 793 1O! if I wake,] All the old copies, with evident corruption, read walk for “wake.” In the last line but one of the speech, the folio reads, “upon my rapier's point.”

Note return to page 794 2Romeo! Romeo! Romeo! here's drink—I drink to thee.] We give the conclusion of this soliloquy, as it stands in the quarto, 1597, for the purpose of comparison:— “What if I should be stifled in the tomb? Awake an hour before the appointed time? Ah! then, I fear, I shall be lunatick, And, playing with my dead forefathers' bones, Dash out my frantick brains. Methinks I see My cousin Tybalt weltering in his blood, Seeking for Romeo:—Stay, Tybalt, stay!— Romeo, I come! this do I drink to thee. “[She falls upon her bed, within the curtains.” The last line has been the ordinary modern reading, and on some accounts may seem preferable; but the “corrected, augmented, and amended,” edition of 1599, and all subsequent impressions, quarto and folio, give it as in our text. After the first edition there is no stage-direction. The “curtains” were “the traverse,” as it was called, at the back of the stage.

Note return to page 795 3Enter Lady Capulet and Nurse.] In the quarto, 1597, the scene commences as follows:— “Mother. That's well said, nurse; set all in readiness: The County will be here immediately.— Enter Old Man. Cap. Make haste, make haste,” &c.

Note return to page 796 4They call for dates and quinces in the pastry.] i. e. in the room where what we now call pastry was made.

Note return to page 797 5Ay, you have been a mouse-hunt &lblank;] “A mouse-hunt” is a stoat, so still called in Norfolk and Suffolk. See Holloway's “Gen. Provincial Dictionary,” 8vo. 1838.

Note return to page 798 6Make haste, I say.] The foregoing scene is altered in the quarto, 1599, in various particulars, but the general import of the speeches is the same in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 799 7The county Paris hath set up his rest,] A figurative expression, apparently derived from the mode of firing the heavy harquebuss, by placing the barrel upon a rest, or support, set up in front of the soldier. The phrase was applied in a variety of ways, generally indicating determination; as at the game of Primero, a person who had staked all the money he meant to risk at once, was said to have “set up his rest.” It was in constant use. See Vol. ii. p. 155.

Note return to page 800 8Upon the sweetest flower of all the field.] So all the old copies, excepting the first. In the quarto, 1597, this scene is in a very abbreviated form, and there Capulet (or as he is called Old Man) exclaims merely, “Stay! let me see: all pale and wan. Accursed time! unfortunate old man.”

Note return to page 801 9&lblank; life, living, all is death's!] All modern editors, since the time of Steevens, have introduced an extraordinary corruption here, by reading, “life leaving, all is death's.” Every old copy gives the passage as it stands in our text, and there can be no possible reason for changing “living” to leaving. Capulet says that death is his heir—that he will die, and leave death all he has: viz. “life, living,” and every thing else. Malone gives applause to Steevens for his emendation. Mr. Barron Field fully concurs in this return to the authentic text.

Note return to page 802 10&lblank; morning's face.] The quarto, 1597, after this line, continues the speech of Paris thus:— “And doth it now present such prodigies? Accurst, unhappy, miserable man! Forlorn, forsaken, destitute I am; Born to the world to be a slave in it: Distrest, remediless, and unfortunate. O heavens! Oh nature! wherefore did you make me To live so vile, so wretched as I shall?” The rest of the scene is considerably enlarged in the later editions.

Note return to page 803 1And cruel death hath catch'd it from my sight]. In the quarto, 1597, there is, in this part of the scene, the following stage-direction:—“All at once cry out and wring their hands,” the subsequent couplet being added, with the prefix of All:— “And all our joy, and all our hope is dead; Dead, lost, undone, absented, wholly fled.”

Note return to page 804 2&lblank; confusion's cure lives not] All the quartos and folios (the quarto, 1597, has not the passage) have care for “cure:” Theobald made the necessary alteration.

Note return to page 805 3For though fond nature &lblank;] “Fond” is from the folio, 1632: the earlier editions (the quarto, 1597, has not the line) have “For though some nature,” probably a misprint. Some was of old written with a long s, which might be easily mistaken for an f, and we have frequently seen that it was so mistaken. In the preceding line, “In all” is derived from the quarto, 1597: the later impressions have And in.

Note return to page 806 4&lblank; and Friar.] Instead of this stage-direction, the oldest quarto has, “They all but the Nurse go forth, casting rosemary on her, and shutting the curtains.”

Note return to page 807 5Enter Peter.] In the quarto, 1597, it is, “Enter Scoringman,” who exclaims, “Alack! alack! what shall I do? Come, fiddlers, play me some merry dump.” In the quartos, 1599 and 1609, it is, “Enter Will Kemp,” from whence we learn that he played the part of Peter. The folio, 1623, has it, like the undated quarto, “Enter Peter.” [Subnote: P. 478.—In note 5, for “Enter Scoringman,” read “Enter Servingman.”]

Note return to page 808 6“My heart is full of woe:”] This and “Heart's ease,” were the names of popular tunes of the time. “Heart's ease” is mentioned in “Misogonus,” a manuscript play by Thomas Rychardes, written before 1570, (see Hist. Eng. Dram. Poetry and the Stage, vol. ii. p. 470,) where a song is sung to the tune. A “dump,” mentioned in the next line, was a species of dance, (see Chappell's “National English Airs,” vol. ii. p. 137,) but it was also the name given to a species of poem. In “Titus Andronicus” (p. 288 of this Vol.) we have had “dreary dumps,” and in the “Two Gentlemen of Verona” (Act iii. sc. 2) we meet with “Tune a deploring dump.” In the next page we have “doleful dumps.” It is necessary to add, that all the old editions, excepting the undated quarto, omit “of woe,” and only read, “my heart is full.”

Note return to page 809 7&lblank; but the gleek; I will give you the minstrel.] “Gleek,” as we have seen in Vol. ii. p. 424, Vol. iv. p. 563, and Vol. v. p. 60, is a jeer or scoff, and Peter of course means that he will scoff the musicians by calling them minstrels.

Note return to page 810 8Then have at you with my wit.] In the old copies this is erroneously made part of what is said by the second musician.

Note return to page 811 9When griping grief the heart doth wound,] This quotation is from “The Paradise of Dainty Devices,” several times reprinted, where the poem is ascribed to “Mr. Edwards,” i. e. Richard Edwards, author of “Damon and Pythias,” 1571, and other early dramatic pieces. See also Percy's “Reliques,” vol. i. p. 201. edit. 1812.

Note return to page 812 10And doleful dumps the mind oppress,] This line is omitted in all the editions after the first of 1597. In the edit. of “The Paradise of Dainty Devices” in 1576, the word “mind” is omitted, and the line given, “And doleful dumps them oppress.”

Note return to page 813 1Pretty!] So the first quarto, here and lower down: all the later editions, quarto and folio, have either prates or pratest, which, without thou before it, can hardly be right. We therefore adopt the oldest reading.

Note return to page 814 2&lblank; because musicians &lblank;] The quarto, 1597, instead of “musicians,” reads, “such fellows as you.”

Note return to page 815 3&lblank; the flattering truth of sleep,] The quarto, 1597, has “the flattering eye of sleep;” but the quarto, 1599, and all subsequent impressions, have “truth” for eye. “Flattering eye” may be reconciled to sense, but with difficulty. The next lines of the earliest edition run thus:— “My dream presag'd some good event to come. My bosom-lord sits cheerful in his throne, And I am comforted with pleasing dreams.” The speech is somewhat amplified in the later impressions, and in the quarto, 1597, it ends with the line, “That I reviv'd, and was an emperor.”

Note return to page 816 4Dost thou not bring me letters from the friar?] This line is not found in the edition preceding that of 1599. It is also wanting afterwards, when Romeo repeats the inquiry.

Note return to page 817 5How fares my Juliet?] So the quarto, 1597, instead of How doth my lady, Juliet? of the other quartos and folio. The compositor, probably, caught the words, “How doth my lady,” from the line immediately preceding, and thus injured the rhythm of the passage.

Note return to page 818 6And her immortal part with angels lives.] The quarto, 1597, reads parts and dwell, and ends the speech thus prosaically, “Pardon me, sir, that am the messenger of such bad tidings.” In Romeo's next speech, for “then, I defy you, stars!” of the quarto, 1597, subsequent editions read, “deny you stars.” Balthasar's reply there begins, “Pardon me, sir, I will not leave you thus.”

Note return to page 819 7What, ho! apothecary!] The description of the apothecary and his shop is considerably varied in the later from the older copy. It opens thus:— “As I do remember, Here dwells a 'pothecary, whom oft I noted As I past by; whose needy shop is stuff'd With beggarly account of empty boxes; And in the same an alligator hangs: Old ends of packthread and cakes of roses, Are thinly strewed to make up a show. Him as I noted, thus with myself I thought,” &c.

Note return to page 820 8Hold, there is forty ducats;] “Here's twenty ducats,” quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 821 8&lblank; and full of wretchedness,] “Full of poverty,” quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 822 1&lblank; hang upon thy back,] Instead of this and the preceding line, the quarto, 1597, has, “Upon thy back hangs ragged misery, And starved famine dwelleth in thy cheeks.” There are other variations, but not so important. The conclusion of the apothecary's answer is, “and it will serve you, had you the lives of twenty men.”

Note return to page 823 2&lblank; give me his letter.] This line is not in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 824 3&lblank; there was stay'd.] Only the substance of this speech, and of some that follow, is in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 825 4The letter was not nice,] i. e. of trifling importance. See Vol. iv. p. 348; and Vol. v. p. 434.

Note return to page 826 5Get me an iron crow,] In the quarto, 1597, “a spade and mattock.”

Note return to page 827 6&lblank; in a dead man's tomb!] Instead of this couplet, the scene in the quarto, 1597, closes as follows:— “I will hie To free her from that tomb of misery.”

Note return to page 828 7&lblank; and a Torch.] “With flowers and sweet water,” adds the stage-direction in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 829 8&lblank; and stand aloof;] So the quartos, 1599 and 1609. The folio, 1623, “and stand aloft.” Corrected in the folio, 1685.

Note return to page 830 9Under yond' yew-trees &lblank;] “Under this yew-tree,” quarto, 1597: all the other copies, quarto and folio, read “young trees.” Balthasar afterwards speaks of a “young tree” in the church-yard, but probably we ought again to read yew-tree. Shakespeare would hardly have written yond' young.

Note return to page 831 1&lblank; strew thy grave and weep!] Instead of these six rhyming lines, the quarto, 1597, has the following verses:— “Sweet tomb, that in thy circuit dost contain The perfect model of eternity, Fair Juliet, that with angels dost remain, Accept this latest favour at my hands, That living honour'd thee, and being dead, With funeral praises do adorn thy tomb.”

Note return to page 832 2Enter Romeo and Balthasar,] All the old copies, but the first, have it, “Enter Romeo and Peter.” Possibly Kemp doubled his part, and acted both Peter and Balthasar, as both were short, and hence the confusion. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0942

Note return to page 833 3&lblank; are savage, wild;] Here, after some omissions and variations, the quarto, 1597, stops, not adding the two next lines.

Note return to page 834 4&lblank; with which grief,] From hence to the words, “I will apprehend him,” is not in the earliest quarto. It ends the speech of Paris in these terms:— “I do attach thee as a felon here: The law condemns thee; therefore thou must die.”

Note return to page 835 5By urging me to fury:] So the quartos, 1599 and 1609, and the folio: the quarto, 1597, “By shedding of thy blood.” In the preceding line it reads, “Heap not,” &c. for “Put not,” of all the later editions.

Note return to page 836 6&lblank; bade thee run away.] This closing couplet is wanting in the quarto, 1597, which in the next line reads, “I do defy thy conjurations;” which some editors have preferred, against all the subsequent authorities, excepting that in the quarto, 1599, “commiseration” is misprinted commiration. The sense of “commiseration” is clear; not so of conjurations.

Note return to page 837 7&lblank; or did I dream it so?] The quarto, 1597, subjoins:— “But I will satisfy thy last request, For thou hast priz'd thy love above thy life.” The next seven lines are only in the quarto, 1599, and subsequent impressions.

Note return to page 838 8Have they been merry,] “Been blith and pleasant,” quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 839 9And death's pale flag is not advanced there. &lblank;] For the last five lines the quarto, 1597, has only, “Ah! dear Juliet, How well thy beauty doth become this grave!”

Note return to page 840 1&lblank; I will believe &lblank; Shall I believe that unsubstantial death is amorous;] We give the text as it stands in every old copy, quarto and folio, excepting the quarto, 1597, where all that is said is, “O! I believe that unsubstantial death is amorous,” &c. Romeo first asserts that he will believe, then checks himself, and puts it interrogatively, whether he shall believe that death is amorous?

Note return to page 841 2Depart again:] After these words the quartos, 1599 and 1609, and all the folios, add the following passage:— &lblank; “Come, lie thou in my arms. Here's to thy health, where'er thou tumblest in. O, true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. Depart again.” Thus we see that “Depart again” is twice repeated; and farther on we meet once more with the words, “O, true apothecary! thy drugs are quick.” There was, no doubt, some strange confusion in this place in the MS. from which the quarto, 1599, was printed. The quarto, 1597, has no trace of any such lines as those above quoted; and it is to be remarked that the quarto, 1637, (which, in other respects can be no authority) omits, &lblank; “Come, lie thou in my arms. Here's to thy health, where'er thou tumblest in.”

Note return to page 842 3Will I set up my everlasting rest,] For an explanation of this phrase, see p. 474 of this Volume.

Note return to page 843 4Who's there?] After this line Malone and others added, “Who is it that consorts so late the dead?” from the quarto, 1597; but if inserted at all, it ought to come in after Balthasar's speech, as in the authority from which it was quoted. It is not in any other ancient edition.

Note return to page 844 5If I did stay to look on his intents.] “And not for to disturb him in his enterprise,” quarto, 1597. The next observation of the Friar there is, “Then, must I go: my mind presageth ill.”

Note return to page 845 6&lblank; some ill unthrifty thing.] So the quarto, 1599: the quarto, 1609, and the folio, unlucky. Balthasar's next speech is not in the quarto, 1597.

Note return to page 846 7&lblank; Ah! what an unkind hour Is guilty of this lamentable chance!] The quarto, 1597, reads, &lblank; “what unlucky hour Is accessary to so foul a sin?”—

Note return to page 847 8Thy lips are warm!] This speech by Juliet only consists of two lines in the quarto, 1597:— “What's here? a cup, clos'd in my lover's hand? Ah, churl, drink all, and leave no drop for me?”

Note return to page 848 9&lblank; there rust, and let me die.] Is the reading of the quarto, 1599, and later impressions. The quarto, 1597, gives the passage thus:— “Ay, noise? then must I be resolute. O, happy dagger! thou shalt end my fear; Rest in my bosom. Thus I come to thee.” Modern editors have not remarked upon the fact, that in all the folios, “This is thy sheath,” is misprinted, “'Tis in thy sheath.” Even Capell misrepresents the state of the old text in this instance.

Note return to page 849 1Enter some of the Watch, with Balthasar.] According to the quarto, 1597, where the business is shortened, Friar Laurence is taken and brought upon the stage before Balthasar.

Note return to page 850 2What fear is this, which startles in your ears?] Johnson substituted our for “your,” but the emendation seems scarcely necessary.

Note return to page 851 3&lblank; in my daughter's bosom.] The following are the corresponding lines in the quarto, 1597:— “See, wife, this dagger hath mistook; For, lo! the back is empty of young Montague, And it is sheathed in our daughter's breast.” To show how carelessly the commentators sometimes quote, we may mention that Steevens asserts (Malone's Shakspeare, by Boswell, vol. vi. p. 253) that the quarto, 1597, reads the last line “erroneously” thus:— “And it mis-sheathed in my daughter's bosom.”

Note return to page 852 4Alas, my liege, my wife is dead to-night;] After this line the quarto, 1597, adds:— “And young Benvolio is deceased too.”

Note return to page 853 5&lblank; their true descent;] The quarto, 1597, reads, “And let us seek to find the authors out Of such a heinous and seld-seen mischance.”

Note return to page 854 6Was stay'd by accident.] In the quarto, 1597, this narrative is substantially the same, but in nearly every line more or less varied. Friar Laurence is more particular in describing the accidental detention of Friar John:— “But he that had my letters (Friar John), Seeking a brother to associate him, Whereas the sick infection remain'd, Was stayed by the searchers of the town.” These lines follow very much the terms of the speech of Friar John in the second scene of this Act.

Note return to page 855 7Have lost a brace of kinsmen:] All that the quarto, 1597, contains of this part of the Prince's speech is, “Where are these enemies? See what hate hath done!”

Note return to page 856 8There shall no figure at such rate be set,] So the quarto, 1599. The folio, 1623, copied the quarto, 1609, and reads, “at that rate be set.” The quarto, 1597, gives the passage as follows:— “There shall no statue at such price be set, As that of Romeo and loved Juliet.”

Note return to page 857 9A glooming peace &lblank;] So all the editions subsequent to the first in 1597, which has “gloomy peace.”

Note return to page 858 “The Life of Tymon of Athens” first appeared in the folio of 1623, where it occupies, in the division of “Tragedies,” twenty-one pages, numbered from p. 80 to p. 98 inclusive; but pp. 81 and 82, by an error, are repeated. Page 98 is followed by a leaf, headed, “The Actors' Names,” and the list of characters fills the whole page: the back of it is left blank. The drama bears the same title in the later folios.

Note return to page 859 1He passes.] As we now say, He surpasses.

Note return to page 860 2“When we for recompence, &c.] “We must here suppose (says Warburton) the poet busy in reading in his own work; and that these three lines are the introduction of the poem addressed to Timon, which he afterwards gives the painter an account of.”

Note return to page 861 3&lblank; as a gum which oozes] The old copy, “as a gown which uses.” Pope changed gown to “gum,” and Johnson uses to “oozes.”

Note return to page 862 4In a wide sea of wax:] The practice of writing with an iron style, upon table-books covered with wax, seems to have prevailed at an early date in England, as well as in Greece and Rome.

Note return to page 863 5Drink the free air.] “To drink the air, (says Wakefield,) like the haustos ætherios of Virgil, is merely a poetical phrase for draw the air, or breathe. To “drink the free air,” therefore, through another, is to breathe freely at his will only.”

Note return to page 864 6Even on their knees and hands, let him slip down,] The folio reads hand, and sit for “slip.” The emendation was made by Rowe.

Note return to page 865 7&lblank; talking with him.] The old stage-direction is, “Trumpets sound. Enter lord Timon, addressing himself courteously to every suitor.”

Note return to page 866 8Well fare you, gentleman:[Timon is addressing the Painter, and, taking leave of him for the present, he says, “Well fare you, gentleman,” and not gentlemen, as it is usually printed, abandoning the old copy.

Note return to page 867 9&lblank; which will not cost &lblank;] The two earliest folios, 1623 and 1632, read cast for “cost,” to which it was altered in the third folio, 1664.

Note return to page 868 10That I had no angry wit to be a lord.] The meaning is obscure, but it seems to be, that Apemantus would hate himself for being a lord, because he had no angry wit, if he wished to be a lord. Heath would read, “That I had so wrong'd my wit to be a lord;” and Monck Mason, more plausibly, “That I had an angry wish to be a lord.” No change is absolutely necessary, and we adhere to the text as it stands in all the folios.

Note return to page 869 1&lblank; and when dinner's done] “And,” wanting in the first folio, is derived from the second.

Note return to page 870 2Aches contract and starve your supple joints!] The word “Aches” is here, as in Act v. sc. 2, and in “The Tempest,” Act i. sc. 2, obviously to be pronounced as a dissyllable. See Coleridge's Lit. Rem. Vol. ii. p. 146.

Note return to page 871 3&lblank; no meed,] i. e. no desert. See Vol. v. pp. 251 and 317, for similar use of the word, which generally signifies reward. In this respect Shakespeare was not peculiar: it was the language of his time, as many instances would establish. T. Heywood, in his “Silver Age,” 1613, employs to meed as to deserve, of which we do not recollect any other example: “And yet thy body meeds a better grave.”

Note return to page 872 4But yond' man is ever angry.] “Very angry” in the folio. Rowe made the change, which seems necessary.

Note return to page 873 5&lblank; at thine apperil,] This word occurs in the same sense three times in Ben Jonson. See his Works, by Gifford, vol. v. p. 137; vi. p. 117 and 159. It also is met with in “The Case is Altered,” which, though printed in 1609, Ben Jonson did not include in the folio of his Works. “Apperil” is also used by Middleton, in his “Michaelmas Term,” 1607. edit. Dyce, vol. i. p. 427.

Note return to page 874 6&lblank; with harness on their throats.] “Harness” is of course armour. We have printed this speech, with the exception of the closing couplet, as it stands in the folio, 1623, the most ancient authority for this play. The only lines that seem to run metrically are those which have come down to us in that volume as verse: the rest of the speech may have been originally measure, but in passing from one manuscript to another, and ultimately from manuscript to print, the lines have lost that character. The same remark will of course apply to various other portions of this play.

Note return to page 875 7My lord, in heart;] We must suppose Timon here pledging one of his noble guests.

Note return to page 876 8Much good dich thy good heart,] So printed in all the old copies; an apparent corruption of d'it for do it.

Note return to page 877 9&lblank; and bid me to 'em.] i. e. Invite me to 'em. To “bid” was constantly used in this sense. In St. Luke's Gospel we read, “None of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper,” ch. xiv. ver. 24.

Note return to page 878 10&lblank; The ear, Taste, touch, smell, pleas'd from thy table rise;] This is Warburton's ingenious emendation of a difficult passage, which in the old copies runs thus:— “There taste, touch, all pleas'd from thy table rise.” Warburton's restoration of the text (for such it merits to be called) makes four of the senses to be gratified at Timon's table, while the fifth is to be delighted by the coming mask. Coleridge, in his Lit. Rem. vol. ii. p. 147, adverting to Warburton's change, says, “This is indeed an excellent emendation.” We unwillingly differ from the Rev. Mr. Barry, who argues very ingeniously in favour of the old reading.

Note return to page 879 1&lblank; and lustre,] The folio, 1632, inserts lively before “lustre,” but it hardly seems required by the metre, and certainly not by the sense.

Note return to page 880 21 Lady. My lord,] This speech is assigned in the old copies to 1 Lord, but no doubt, as Johnson suggested, by mistake, the error having arisen from the circumstance, that in the old manuscript 1 L. was the prefix, the single letter being employed to denote either Lady or Lord.

Note return to page 881 3Ay, defil'd land, my lord.] Alcibiades plays, upon the word pitch'd used by Timon. The editor of the second folio, not observing the quibble, supposed “defil'd” a misprint, and altered it to, “I defy land, my lord;” meaning that a soldier disregarded landed possessions.

Note return to page 882 4I doubt whether their legs &lblank;] i. e. their bows: to make a leg was formerly, as now, to make a bow.

Note return to page 883 5Can sound his state in safety.] So the old copies; the meaning being, that no reason can sound Timon's state and find it in safety. The usual reading has been found, which is not more intelligible than “sound.”

Note return to page 884 6Plays in the right hand, thus:—but tell him,] So the folio, 1623, and the pause before “but tell him” completes the time of the line, without resorting to the folio, 1632, which adds “sirrah” at the end of it.

Note return to page 885 7And have the dates in compt.] The old reading of all the folios is, “And have the dates in. Come.” Theobald made the change, which seems necessary; and Shakespeare uses “compt” in “All's Well that Ends Well,” “Macbeth,” “Othello,” &c.

Note return to page 886 8I must be round with him,] i. e. plain with him. See Vol. iv. p. 532.

Note return to page 887 9Good even, Varro.] The old stage-direction is, “Enter Caphis, Isidore, and Varro.” Caphis we know was the servant of the senator who was Timon's creditor, and the other two appear to have been servants of Isidore and Varro, although addressed by the names of their respective masters, and so designated in the prefixes of all the folios.

Note return to page 888 1With clamorous demands of debt, broken bonds,] So the old copies uniformly. Malone altered the text to “date-broken bonds,” which may be said to derive some countenance from the next line; but we feel bound, as no change is required by the sense, to adhere to the words of the poet, as far as they have been handed down to us in the folio, 1623.

Note return to page 889 2Gramercies,] This word, from the Fr. grand merci, is usually employed in the singular, as on the next page: we have had many examples of it, which it is needless more particularly to refer to.

Note return to page 890 3&lblank; my mistress' page.] “My master's page,” in all the folios; the confusion being occasioned, perhaps, by “mistress” having been expressed, in the manuscript which the old printer used, merely by the letter M. Steevens states that the word is master, both here and before, when the fool was asked, “How does your mistress?” Such is not the case with any folio I have had an opportunity of seeing. The confusion occurs again afterwards, no doubt from the same cause.

Note return to page 891 4I have retir'd me to a wasteful cock, And set mine eyes at flow.] This passage has occasioned a good deal of comment: the “wasteful cock” seems to mean the flowing eyes of Flavius, which ran to waste, in vain grief at his lord's boundless expenditure. Pope, not understanding the allusion, substituted “lonely room;” and Sir T. Hanmer took “wasteful cock” to be a cock-loft, “a garret lying in waste.”

Note return to page 892 5Flaminius!] In the old copies, Flavius; but Flavius was the name of the steward. Rowe altered it to Flaminius, which is, no doubt, right, because the first time he speaks the prefix is Flam.

Note return to page 893 6&lblank; ingeniously I speak,] i. e. Ingenuously. Of old, “ingenious” was not unfrequently used for ingenuous, of which we have had several instances. See Vol. ii. p. 294.

Note return to page 894 7He has only sent &lblank;] “Has only sent,” in the original. Has is not unfrequently printed for “He has” in the first folio, though usually with an apostrophe, thus, H'as. Had is used in the same way afterwards.

Note return to page 895 8Is every flatterer's sport.] We adhere to the old reading, thinking that it affords at least as good a meaning as the modern change of “sport” to spirit.

Note return to page 896 9&lblank; His friends, like physicians, Thrice give him over!] The old copies read, “thrive give him over,” which may, perhaps, be reconciled to sense, if we suppose the meaning to be, that Timon's friends, who have thriven by him, give him over, like physicians, after they have been enriched by the fees of the patient. The misprint was, however, a very easy one, and, as the Rev. Mr. Barry observes, “thrice” (which Johnson introduced) is supported by the fact, that the three friends of Timon, Ventidius, Lucullus, and Lucius, had given him over. Malone and Steevens, nevertheless, preferred thrive.

Note return to page 897 10And amongst lords I be thought a fool.] The personal pronoun is from the second folio, and is necessary to the intelligibility of the line.

Note return to page 898 1Else, surely, his had equall'd.] The meaning probably is, “Your master's confidence exceeded my master's, or my master's demand had been equal to your master's.”

Note return to page 899 2And mine, my lord.] In the old copies, these words are given to 1 Var., but Malone properly changed it, as both Varro's servants speak directly afterwards. Timon in his next speech plays on the word “bills.”

Note return to page 900 3Lucius, Lucullus, and Sempronius; Ullorxa, all:] The folio, 1632, omits Ullorxa, and it is certainly superfluous as regards the measure, and a name (as Steevens observes) “unacknowledged by Athens or Rome.” Nevertheless, it is found in the folio, 1623, and as it does not in any way affect the sense we insert it. Shakespeare has allowed himself great licence in the names of many of the characters, which, as Johnson remarks, are Roman, and not Grecian; and in the first scene of this Act he has spoken of coins, “solidares,” of the existence of which we have no knowledge.

Note return to page 901 4&lblank; the law shall bruise him.] The old copies read, “shall bruise 'em.”

Note return to page 902 5(An honour in him &lblank;] The folios read, “And honour in him.”

Note return to page 903 6Why, say, my lords,] The folio, 1632, reads, “Why, I say, my lords,” &c., but needlessly, the meaning being, “Why admit, or acknowledge, my lords, that he has done fair service.”

Note return to page 904 7'Tis inferr'd to us,] i. e. 'Tis brought or produced to us. Shakespeare not unfrequently uses the verb to infer in this sense. Thus, in “Henry VI.” part iii. Vol. v. p. 258, “Inferring arguments of mighty force.” It would be easy to multiply instances, but they are unnecessary.

Note return to page 905 8&lblank; and lay for hearts.] i. e. probably, and lay out for hearts, as we now express it: to lay was also of old used for way-lay: thus in Middleton's “Chaste Maid in Cheapside,” we have “Lay the water-side,” and “lay the commonstairs.” In Mayne's “City Match,”, Quartfield says, “The country has been laid, and warrants granted To apprehend him.” Malone here again quotes Marlowe's ”Lust's Dominion:” that play was not by Marlowe. See Dodsley's Old Plays, last edit. vol. ii. p. 311.

Note return to page 906 9Upon that were my thoughts tiring,] To tire on is to fasten on, like a bird of prey pecking at its victim; and in this sense we have seen it used in Vol. iii. p. 465; and Vol. v. p. 238.

Note return to page 907 10&lblank; the common lag &lblank;] Old copies, leg. Corrected by Rowe. Lower down Malone reads, “to be nothing,” and “they are welcome.”

Note return to page 908 1Push!] Respecting this frequent interjection, see Vol. ii. p. 257.

Note return to page 909 2&lblank; son of sixteen,] The folio, 1623, reads, “some of sixteen:” corrected in the folio, 1632.

Note return to page 910 3&lblank; with multiplying bans!] “Bans” are curses, and to ban to curse. See Vol. v. pp. 90. 148.

Note return to page 911 4They embrace, and part several ways.] This is the old expressive stage-direction, and not merely “Exeunt Servants,” as it stands in modern editions. These explanatory passages, as well as the text, might be by Shakespeare.

Note return to page 912 5Strange, unusual blood,] Steevens adduced a passage in “The Yorkshire Tragedy,” 1608, to show that “blood” was formerly used for inclination or disposition. He might have proved it by various quotations from Shakespeare's undoubted productions.

Note return to page 913 6It is the pasture lards the rother's sides,] We insert “rother” (instead of brother, as it stands in the folios) at the instance of Mr. Singer, who has contributed so much to the knowledge and just appreciation of old English literature. The suggestion was made in a letter published in the “Athenæum,” in April, 1842, in which the writer truly observed, that to change brother to “rother” removed the whole difficulty of a passage, regarding which commentators had so much disputed. Warburton recommended “wether,” with a near approach to the meaning of the line; but a “rother” is a horned beast, such as oxen or cows; and in Golding's Ovid's Metam., 1567, we meet with the expression of “herds of rother-beasts.” But Shakespeare must have been well acquainted with the word from his own youthful experience, for in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon (as indeed is stated in Holloway's “General Provincial Dictionary”) is what is still called a “rother-market.” The word “rother” is also found in our statute-book. Jacob's Law Dictionary, stat. 21 Jac. 1. c. 18.

Note return to page 914 P. 559.&lblank; the rother's sides.] In one of the original records of the borough of Stratford-upon-Avon, in the hands of the Shakespeare Society, we read as follows:— “Item, that the beast market, at every feyr hearafter, be holden in the Roder stret, and in no other place.”

Note return to page 915 7&lblank; every grise of fortune] i. e. Every step or degree of fortune. We have had the word before in Vol. iii. p. 377.

Note return to page 916 8Pluck stout men's pillows from below their heads;] This alludes (says Warburton) to an old custom of drawing away the pillow from under the heads of men in their last agonies, to make their departure the easier. Sir T. Hanmer, not understanding the passage, substituted sick for “stout.”

Note return to page 917 9To the tub-fast,] Old copy, fub-fast; an error of the press corrected by Warburton.

Note return to page 918 1That through the window-bars bore at men's eyes,] The folios read, “window Barn.”

Note return to page 919 2&lblank; thy throat &lblank;] Old copy the throat. Corrected by Pope.

Note return to page 920 3That from it all consideration slips ——] We print this line as in all the folios, where it is followed by a line, to indicate, probably, that Timon was interrupted by the entrance of Apemantus.

Note return to page 921 4From change of fortune.] The folio, “From change of future,” which cannot be right. Southern altered it to “fortune” in MS. in his copy of the folio, 1685. Rowe afterwards adopted the same word.

Note return to page 922 5First mend my company,] The old copy reads, “mend thy company.” The correction was made by Rowe.

Note return to page 923 6'Twixt natural son and sire!] The folios all read, corruptly, “'Twixt natural sun and fire.”

Note return to page 924 7O thou touch of hearts!] i. e. touchstone of hearts. See Vol. v. p. 442.

Note return to page 925 8More things like men?] This line, in the folios, is given to Apemantus; but (as Johnson suggested) it most likely belongs to Timon.

Note return to page 926 9Yet thanks I must you con,] We have had this idiomatic expression before in “All's Well that Ends Well,” Vol. iii. p. 286. It is sometimes spelt cun, as in Nash's “Pierce Penniless,” 1592, Sign. H 4, “Our lord will cun thee little thank for it.”

Note return to page 927 10In limited professions.] i. e. says Malone, in regular, orderly professions. It seems rather to mean, restricted professions.

Note return to page 928 1Do villainy, do, since you protest to do't,] The folio misprints villain for “villainy.”

Note return to page 929 2Steal not less,] “Not” is wanting in the folios; but, seeming necessary both to the sense and measure, it was inserted by Rowe.

Note return to page 930 3Exeunt Banditti.] In the opening of the scene they are called “Banditti,” and so we have termed them throughout, and at the conclusion; but in the folios the stage-direction here is, “Exit Thieves.”

Note return to page 931 4Then, if thou grant'st thou'rt a man,] The folios misprint, grunt'st. It was corrected for the first time by Southern in MS. in his copy of the fourth folio.

Note return to page 932 5Enter Poet and Painter.] Johnson has truly remarked upon the inconvenience of commencing the fifth Act here, as the Poet and Painter were in sight of Apemantus before he quitted the scene. He suspected some transposition of the scenes, as they have come down to us; but the difficulty is to arrange them otherwise than as at present, and to begin Act v. at any other point. The divisions are merely modern, not being marked in the folio, 1623, nor in any subsequent edition in that form.

Note return to page 933 6Enter Timon from his Cave.] So the stage-direction in the old copies, from which it seems unnecessary to deviate. Timon is usually represented as in sight during the introductory dialogue between the Poet and Painter: “Enter Poet and Painter; Timon behind, unseen,” has been the usual modern stage-direction at the opening of the Act; but although he may be supposed to have overheard them, it is to be concluded that he here comes forward, and shows himself to the audience, though still unseen by the Poet and Painter. All that Timon says, therefore, in this part of the scene is aside.

Note return to page 934 7To thee be worship;] The folio, 1623, misprints “worship,” worshipt. The error runs through the four folios, and it was not corrected till Rowe's edition appeared.

Note return to page 935 8Thou draw'st a counterfeit] A “counterfeit” was the old word for a portrait. It is of perpetual occurrence in this sense.

Note return to page 936 9&lblank; but two in company:] The meaning seems to be, “although you go separately, still there are two in company—the made-up villain and yourself.” This is Johnson's explanation of the passage.

Note return to page 937 1You have done work for me,] Malone introduced the word “done,” and the measure (though very irregular in this play) seems to require it as well as the meaning. Steevens would read the line thus:— “You've work'd for me, there is your payment. Hence!” which makes three deviations from the old copy instead of only one.

Note return to page 938 2&lblank; hath sense withal Of its own fall;] The folio, 1623, reads since for “sense;” a very obvious and easy mistake, but not corrected in the later folios.

Note return to page 939 3&lblank; bruit &lblank;] i. e. report, rumour. See Vol. v. pp. 38. 314.

Note return to page 940 4In our dear peril.] i. e. In our dire or dread peril. See Vol. iii. p. 409.

Note return to page 941 5Some beast rear'd this;] The old copies have read for “rear'd.” Johnson was in favour of read, instead of “rear'd,” which was substituted by Theobald. It would however be strange for the Soldier to call upon a beast to read that which, he tells us just afterwards, he could not read himself.

Note return to page 942 6Shame, that they wanted cunning,] i. e. that they wanted knowledge—the etymological meaning of the word. Sax. connan, to know. The line, like many others, is wrongly printed in parenthesis in the old copies.

Note return to page 943 7&lblank; to atone your fears] i. e. to at one or reconcile your fears. See p. 240. Massinger uses atonement in the same sense. Gifford's edit. vol. i. 315.

Note return to page 944 8But shall be remedied to your public laws] We may suspect that “remedied” ought to have been printed rendered. The folio, 1632, and those of 1664 and 1685 after it, read, “remedied by your public laws.”

Note return to page 945 9Enter a Soldier.] This is the same Soldier who had taken a wax-impression of the inscription on the tomb of Timon; but here, in the old stage-direction, he is called “a Messenger.”

Note return to page 946 1&lblank; and stay not here thy gait.] This, which is here given as one epitaph, is in fact two; as is evident, because in the first couplet the reader is told, “Seek not my name,” and yet in the next line he is told, “Here lie I, Timon,” &c. They stand thus separately in “Plutarch's Lives,” by Sir Thomas North, fol. 1579, p. 1003:— “Heere lyes a wretched corse, of wretched soule bereft. Seek not my name: a plague consume you wicked wretches left. “It is reported that Timon himselfe, when he lived, made this epitaphe; for that which is commonly rehearsed was not his, but made by the poet Callimachus:— “Heere lye I, Timon, who alive all living men did hate. Passe by, and curse thy fill; but passe and stay not here thy gate.” The epitaph assigned to Timon in Paynter's “Palace of Pleasure” runs thus:— “My wretched catife dayes, expired now and past,   My carren corps intered here is fast in grounde, In waltering waves of swelling sea by surges cast:   My name if thou desire, the gods thee doe confounde.”

Previous section